Lady Flames Picked to 9-Peat in Big South

[Sly Fox]

Lady Flames Picked First; Fasnacht Named Preseason All-Conference

October 13, 2005 · Charlotte, N.C.

Liberty University’s women’s basketball team has been selected to finish first in the Big South Conference’s annual preseason poll and Allyson Fasnacht was named to the preseason all-conference team, as voted by the league’s head coaches, Sports Information Directors and media panel.

The Lady Flames are coming off of a year that saw them win 26 games and make an appearance in the NCAA “Sweet 16” with upsets over No. 4 seed Penn State and No. 5 seed DePaul.

Liberty, which has won a conference record eight-straight regular season titles and nine tournament titles, garnered 14 first place votes and finished with 189 points. High Point, the only Big South team to defeat the Lady Flames a season ago, captured second place in the voting with nine first place votes and 181 points.

The Bulldogs of UNC Asheville, last year’s runner-up to Liberty, received two first-place votes and finished third with 163 points. Radford was fourth in voting was fourth in voting with 112 points, wile Birmingham-Southern placed fifth with 95 points.

Rounding out the poll was Coastal Carolina, which received one first-place vote, collected 72 points for sixth, while Charleston Southern placed seventh with 69 points and Winthrop finished eighth with 55 points.

Fasnacht ranked second in the Big South in conference games with 3.9 assist per contest and was named to the freshman all-conference team last season.

Also being named to the preseason all-conference team was Katie O’Dell from High Point, Kristal Hood from UNC Asheville, Kim Turner from Coastal Carolina, Stacey Anthony from Birmingham-Southern and Corrie Fertitta from Radford, while O’Dell was named the preseason player of the year.

The Lady Flames tip-off their 2005-06 schedule on November 19, when they host Virginia Union at 7 p.m. in the Vines Center.

libertyflames.com/wbball/news.asp?news_id=2770

You can't help but notice that 12 of the 26 voters did not pick us to win this title again for the 9th straight year. They'll learn.

[Sly Fox]

Here are the official releases from the conference:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Liberty University’s women’s basketball squad have been chosen first in the Big South Conference’s annual preseason poll, as voted by the League’s Head Coaches, Sports Information Directors, and media panel. The announcement was made today at The Westin Hotel in downtown Charlotte as part of the 2005-06 Basketball Tip-Off Media Luncheon.

The Lady Flames, coming off their NCAA “Sweet 16” run, was voted to finish first in the women’s poll. Liberty, which has won a Conference-record eight-straight regular-season titles, garnered 14 first-place votes and finished with 189 points. High Point captured second-place in the voting with nine first-place votes and 181 points. UNC Asheville, last year’s tournament runner-up to Liberty, received two first-place votes and finished third with 163 points. Radford was fourth in the voting with 112 points, while Birmingham-Southern placed fifth with 95 points. Coastal Carolina, which received one first-place vote, was sixth, followed by Charleston Southern (seventh) and Winthrop (eighth). VMI does not field a women’s team.

The women’s season starts Friday, Nov. 18 and concludes with the Advance Auto Parts Big South Basketball Championship March 7-11, with the regular-season champion hosting the semifinals and finals March 10-11. FSN South and CSN Mid-Atlantic will televise the women’s championship game live on Saturday, March 11 at 2:00pm.

2005-06 Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll (combined votes)

Rk Team (first-place votes) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Points
1. Liberty (14) 112 56 6 15 - - - - 189
2. High Point (9) 72 77 24 - 8 - - - 181
3. UNC Asheville (2) 16 35 102 10 - - - - 163
4. Radford - - 18 60 12 18 4 - 112
5. Birmingham-Southern - 7 6 30 28 12 10 2 95
6. Coastal Carolina (1) 8 - - - 24 18 18 4 72
7. Charleston Southern - - - 10 20 24 8 7 69
8. Winthrop - 7 - 5 12 6 12 13 55

www.bigsouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4800&ATCLID=202911


Katie O'Dell - HPU

High Point's Katie O'Dell Voted Preseason Player of the Year

Release: 10/13/2005

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – High Point University senior guard/forward Katie O’Dell (Bristol, Tenn.) has been voted the Big South Conference Preseason Women’s Basketball Player of the Year by the League’s Head Coaches, Sports Information Directors and media panel, it was announced today at the Conference’s 2005-06 Basketball Tip-Off Media Luncheon at The Westin Hotel in Charlotte.

O’Dell, a First-team All-Big South selection as a sophomore and junior, finished second in the League in scoring and rebounding last year with 14.6 points and 7.9 rebounds. She also ranked in the Conference’s top 15 in free throw percentage (9th – 66.7), steals (12th – 1.85), field goal percentage (13th - .397) and three-point percentage (13th - .273). O’Dell, who has started the last 55 games, posted eight double-doubles last season and tallied career-highs in points (31) and rebounds (15) during her junior campaign. She enters the 2005-06 season 93 points shy of 1,000 and 33 rebounds away from 500. O’Dell received 19 first-place votes and finished with 115 points in the voting to earn a spot on the preseason All-Conference team.

2005-06 Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team

Katie O’Dell, High Point, Sr., G/F, 5-10, Bristol, Tenn.
Kristal Hood, UNC Asheville, Sr., G, 5-6, Frederick, Md.
Kim Turner, Coastal Carolina, Sr., G/F, 6-0, West Memphis, Ark.
Stacey Anthony, Birmingham-Southern, Sr., G, 5-9, Monroe, La.
Allyson Fasnacht, Liberty, So., G, 5-8, Salem, Va.
Corrie Fertitta, Radford, So., F, 6-1, Roanoke, Va.

Hood, who received five first-place votes and 78 points in the voting, has earned All-Conference honors each of her three seasons at UNC Asheville. She led the Bulldogs in scoring last year with 12.5 points per game, as well as assists (64) and a single-season school record 82 steals. Hood is 42 points shy of 1,000 in her career.

Turner, a Second-team All-Conference selection last year, garnered 45 points to earn a preseason spot. She averaged 13.1 points and 6.0 points per game as a junior, ranking fourth and sixth in the Big South, respectively. She scored in double-figures 16 times and notched three double-digit rebounding efforts.

Anthony, who received 39 points in the voting, was the Conference’s leading three-point shooter in 2004-05, hitting 39.7 percent (50-126) to rank 34th in the nation in that category. She was Birmingham-Southern’s leading scorer as well with 10.4 points per contest, in addition to sinking a three-pointer in 22 of her 24 appearances.

Fasnacht earned All-Freshman team honors a year ago in helping the Lady Flames reach the Sweet 16. She started 20 of her 33 appearances, made 75.8 percent of her free throws (47-62) and ranked among the League leaders in assists while averaging 17.3 minutes per game. Fasnacht received 22 points in the preseason voting to tie for the final spot.

Fertitta, the 2004-05 Big South Freshman of the Year, also received 22 points in the poll. She led Radford in rebounding last season with 6.0 per game, ranking fifth in the Big South, and was fourth on the squad in scoring (6.9) and second in blocks (18). Fertitta led all Conference freshmen in scoring and rebounding and posted double-figures nine times a year ago.

www.bigsouthsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4800&ATCLID=202907

Surely thesportscritic has some opinions on the lack of belief in our Lady Flames around the Big South.

[BJ]

Welcome to the post-Katie Feenstra Big South...course I am just as surprised that so many do not think LU will win this year. Yeah we lost 5 seniors, but you see our incoming class? And then we have Fasnacht runing the offense, and Coutrney Watkins with her voracious defense, and then Egle stretching the defense with her ability inside AND outside

[thesportscritic]

Surely thesportscritic has some opinions on the lack of belief in our Lady Flames around the Big South.

They think just because we don't have a tall girl in the lane is probably why they (media) think we could lose our dynasty this season. I talked to a couple of the players and the team knows about the doubts that the media has this year. Hopefully we will shut the media up and let the scoreboard talk. I think the team is anxious to prove themselves this year. This will be a year that we will have to prove ourselves and ultimately stop the smack talk. This is our best recruiting class yet that we have. Hopefully they will prove themselves.

[thesportscritic]

High Point may have been picked second with 9 first place votes but we play a much tougher non conference schedule than they do. I think this schedule will toughen us up for the Big South and hopefully we will lower the boom on the Big South competition. I got the feeling that we will prove ourselves but we will see when that ball goes up in the air on NOV 5. An exhibition game against Athletes in Action. We will see what we are made of.

[ATrain]

I'm still trying to figure out how Coastal got a first place vote...*sigh*-I'm not surprised that High Point and UNC-Asheville got some first place votes, since our team is basically freshmen and sophomores...but they're good ones...anyone who doesn't think we can do it should just ask ODU how many times people said they wouldn't repeat...and yet, they're still champions 13/14/15 straight seasons now, right??? It'll be the same way with us

[thesportscritic]

I agree with you Atrain. As long as this team proves itself and gets hungry this season, then we should take this home for the 10th straight year. I believe this group has loads of potential. If other teams are confident they can beat us then good for them. Hopefully we will set the record straight when we open Big South play in January.

[fsn32]

sportscritic05 said:

Surely thesportscritic has some opinions on the lack of belief in our Lady Flames around the Big South.

They think just because we don't have a tall girl in the lane is probably why they (media) think we could lose our dynasty this season. I talked to a couple of the players and the team knows about the doubts that the media has this year. Hopefully we will shut the media up and let the scoreboard talk. I think the team is anxious to prove themselves this year. This will be a year that we will have to prove ourselves and ultimately stop the smack talk. This is our best recruiting class yet that we have. Hopefully they will prove themselves.

Half of the blame goes to the coaches and SID's (not LU's of course)... it is 50/50 on the voting process. (2 media members for each school and a coach and SID vote.) Actually, to my knowledge, this is the first year that the media was involved in the preseason voting in the Big South. Up until this year all the preseason awards and predictions were just coaches and SID. All of the Olympic sports are still that way for the preseason voting.

[Sly Fox]

To be fair, what would the media know about the olympic sports anyway other than that Josh McDougal kid must be pretty good. The coaches and SIDs are paid to know what is going on. But they often have ulterior motives in their voting.

I'm sent ballots for Southland and other leagues all the time. I have practically no idea who to vote for so I simply pass on it. But say I'm an alum of a school in one of those leagues. It would be tempting to try and give my boys a little confidence boost. That's why all of these deals should be taken with a grain of salt. ON the positive side, it gets us talking about Big South hoops.

[fsn32]

sumner said:

To be fair, what would the media know about the olympic sports anyway other than that Josh McDougal kid must be pretty good. The coaches and SIDs are paid to know what is going on.

I agree 100%... the Olympic sports are usually a mystery to most of the media. I was just pointing it out cause a lot of fans think all the all-conference and predictions are done by media.

[SCAR]

I would love to vote on this stuff for men's hoops. I figure Chris Lang is one of the media member from Liberty, I wonder who the other one was? These polls mean nothing in terms of the outcome of the league. If you go back and do a comparison for how the voting goes and how it actually turns out, the 2 are often different. At least in the Big South on the Men's side.

[Chris Lang]

SCAR, I believe Mark Edwards is the other media voter that LU selected.

[SCAR]

Thats cool. Mark certainly knows what he is doing and has seen enough Big South games to make an educated choice. Chris, I will probably see you tonight, if not, tomorrow at the football game! Can't wait to see Terrell in action.

[Sly Fox]

What is Mark's gig these days? Does he work at WRVL?

[Chris Lang]

scar said:

Thats cool. Mark certainly knows what he is doing and has seen enough Big South games to make an educated choice. Chris, I will probably see you tonight, if not, tomorrow at the football game! Can't wait to see Terrell in action.

Wish I could check it out tonight, but I've got the Nelson County-William Campbell football game up in Lovingston ... at least I get to try out the new 29 bypass!

[fsn32]

chrislang said:

SCAR, I believe Mark Edwards is the other media voter that LU selected.

Right outlet, wrong Edwards... Jerry is the other voter.

Mark is working as the Production and Music Director at WRVL and hosting the Pregame Show for football games.

[Sly Fox]

Cool. Thanks for the update.

[thesportscritic]

This team is going to be a young team but with a lot of talent. I still believe that we are the most talented team in this league but we will have to prove ourselves and the youngins are going to have to get some experience and hopefully the juniors and sophmores will step up and be in leadership positions this year. This will be a tough challenge for this team this year but I think they are up to it. We will see in the next few weeks.

[flamesfan710]

You think that with a smaller lineup Coach Green may go a bit more uptempo with the style of play for the ladies?

[thesportscritic]

flamesfan710 said:

You think that with a smaller lineup Coach Green may go a bit more uptempo with the style of play for the ladies?

This team is going to be an uptempo team because everybody can get up and down the floor. The answer in other words is yes. It will be an exciting style to watch this season.

[BJ]

Im just curious about another thing. Now that we aren't basically running the offense through one person (Katie Feenstra), are we going to shoot from the outside more or less? I thought Id ask because we have 3 people who could drop em in from behind the arc, two of them forwards, and I don't know how good the incoming girls are as outside shooters

[thesportscritic]

Most of the team can shoot the 3 except for one or two people. But I think they will be a perimeter team but the guards will attack the basket a lot more than in years past. I don't know who is going to play at the 5 which is the center position. I think this will be a fun style and team to watch.