HCAC Announces Women's Basketball Preseason Poll

DEFIANCE, Ohio - The 2019-20 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference preseason coaches' poll, released Thursday morning, saw the Defiance College Yellow Jackets picked for a seventh place finish. 

Coming off an impressive season, Transylvania was pegged to finish first in the poll. The Pioneers received 90 points and eight first place votes. Hanover and Rose-Hulman each collected one first place vote while the Panthers came in a close second in polling with 88 points. Anderson and Franklin follow the Fightin' Engineers 62 point tally. The ravens land fourth with 59 points while the Grizzlies round out the top five with 54. 

Bluffton edged out Defiance by just two points as the rivals sit with 54 and 52 points respectively. Earlham and Mount St. Joseph finished the polling with just one point separating the pair at 39 and 38 respectively. Manchester rounds out the poll as the Spartans collected 18 points. 

Four Yellow Jackets find their names on the 2019-20 HCAC Players to Watch list. A pair of seniors top the list as Danielle Carruthers (New London/New London) and Liz Martin (Bellefontaine/Bellefontaine) earn the recognition. As a junior, Carruthers featured in all 27 games for the Purple and Gold. The New London native averaged 4.3 points per game while reeling in 97 rebounds. Likewise, Martin found the court in all 27 contests while scoring 61 points and dishing out 14 assists. 

Kalyn Pickens (Fort Wayne, Ind./R. Nelson Snider) was the third Yellow Jacket to land on the list. Pickens made 18 starts for Defiance during the 2018-19 season. The junior averaged 5.4 points per game while recording 53 assists and 23 steals over the course of the season. 

After a strong freshman campaign, Talyor Day (West Mansfield/North Union) secures a place on the Players to Watch list as well. Day started all 27 games for DC last season and earned All-HCAC Freshman Team as well as All-HCAC Honorable Mention. The sophomore tallied 744 minutes on the court for Head Coach Allan King, Jr. 

The Yellow Jackets are set to begin the season with a trip to Olivet College on Wednesday, November 13. After a three game road trip, DC will make their way back to the Karl H. Weaner Center on November 26, as they take on local foe Ohio Northern. 

2019-20 HCAC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON POLL

(#) Denotes First Place Votes