ST. LOUIS – The Illinois State women's basketball team was pegged for a seventh-place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll, the conference announced Tuesday. Drake was picked to win the league in the annual survey of the league's coaches, sports information directors and media.
Illinois State (8-23, 4-14 MVC in 2016-17) will be under the direction of first-year head coach Kristen Gillespie in 2017-18. The Redbirds return four players that started a majority of the team's games a year ago in senior Hannah Green, juniors Katrina Beck and Viria Livingston, and sophomore Megan Talbot.
Drake, with 356 voter points and 31 first-place votes, edged out Missouri State (323 points, seven first-place votes) for the top spot in the preseason poll. Northern Iowa (311 points) was the only other school to garner a first-place vote, and was slotted in for a third-place finish.
Southern Illinois, Indiana State and Bradley were picked to finish ahead of Illinois State at No. 7, while Evansville, Valparaiso and Loyola Chicago rounded out the poll.
Missouri State's Liza Fruendt was named the MVC Preseason Player of the Year. She was joined on the league's preseason all-conference team by Drake's Sammie Bachrodt and Becca Hittner, Northern Iowa's Ellie Howell and Southern Illinois' Kylie Giebelhausen.
Illinois State will take on visiting Eureka College in an exhibition game at Redbird Arena at 7 p.m. on Nov. 1. The Redbirds' first regular-season contest will be played in Rochester, Michigan, on Nov. 11, when Illinois State travels to take on Oakland.
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