Panther Women Picked Second In Preseason Poll

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Missouri Valley Conference announced its preseason women's basketball poll Tuesday morning, with the UNI Panthers landing at the No. 2 spot.

The Panthers second place ranking marks the ninth year that UNI has been voted in the top-half of the standings in the MVC preseason poll under the direction of head coach Tanya Warren. Warren is in her 10^th year as head coach of the Panthers, earning her third MVC Coach of the Year title in 2016.

Drake earned 34 first-place votes to top the preseason poll this year with UNI and Missouri State also receiving first place votes to finish second and third. Southern Illinois and Wichita State round out the top-five in the 2016-17 preseason voting.

Rank	Team (1st place votes)	Points
1	Drake (34)	392
2	UNI (4)	317
3	Missouri State (2)	313
4	Southern Illinois	306
5	Wichita State	248
6	Indiana State	199
7	Bradley	141
8	Illinois State	123
9	Evansville	109
10	Loyola	52

Also earning some preseason recognition is senior Madison Weekly, who was named to the MVC Preseason All-Conference team. The two-time first-team All-MVC selection is UNI's sole returning starter for the 2016-17 season, averaging 17.7 points per game last year.

Player, Team	Pos.	Class	Ht.	Hometown (High School)
Rangie Bessard, Wichita State	F	Jr.	6-1	Rosharon, Texas (Manvel)
Caitlin Ingle, Drake	G	Sr.	5-8	Runnells, Iowa (Southeast Polk
Rishonda Napier, Southern Illinois	G	Sr.	5-5	Burbank, Calif. (Bellarmine-Jefferson)
Madison Weekly, UNI	G	Sr.	5-7	Atkins, Iowa (Benton Community)
Lizzy Wendell, Drake	F	Sr.	6-0	Blue Springs, Mo. (Blue Springs)
*Preseason Player of the Year

Weekly will be a leader on and off the court for UNI this season after becoming just the second player in school history to score 600-plus points in a season along with winning MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Warren's 10^th season comes on the heels of UNI's seventh consecutive season with 17 or more wins. Warren has been at the helm to see nine all-conference selections, including three last season in Weekly, Amber Sorenson and Jen Keitel. UNI's three selections to the All-MVC teams in 2016 is the most the Panthers have had in one season since 2002-03.

She has seen the Panthers rank high in the Valley and nationally in several individual categories including being ranked in the top-25 in three-pointers made per game and in the top-30 in fewest turnovers per game in five of the last six seasons.

Along with Weekly, UNI returns seniors Hannah Schonhardt and Angie Davison to the court along with returning Ellie Herzberg, who started the first eight games of last season before suffering an injury that kept her out the remainder of the year. The Panthers will also have a slew of newcomers getting some action this year with three redshirt freshmen and two true freshmen on the roster.

Panther fans can get a preview of the 2016-17 UNI women's basketball team on Saturday, Oct. 29 at their Fan Fest prior to the UNI football game. The event will take place outside the Hy-Vee Fan Zone from 4:30-5:30 p.m.

UNI will tip off its season with an exhibition game against Maryville on Monday, Nov. 7 in the McLeod Center with the game starting at 7 p.m. CT. For season tickets, contact the UNI ticket office at 319-273-4849 or visit the UNITix website.

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