Oct. 8, 2008

Contact: Greg Murphy

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland State women's basketball team has been picked fourth in the Horizon League preseason poll of head coaches, sports information directors and media members from each of the 10 league schools.

The Vikings return eight letterwinners and three starters from last year's team that went 19-14, finished fourth in the regular season and won the Horizon League Championship.

CSU advanced to the postseason for the first time in school history, earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.

"The goal for in our program is to have a winning tradition of excellence," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said. "And our pick in the preseason poll shows movement toward that goal.

"The Horizon League is extremely deep and talented this year, but we are once again focusing on a championship season. Winning the league tournament last season gave us a perspective of where this program is headed and I am proud of how far we have come, but focused on where we are going."

Cleveland State received one first place vote and 228 total points in the voting to finish just 12 points behind third place Milwaukee. The Panthers received two first place votes and 240 points.

Green Bay, which has owned at least a share of the regular season title in each of the last 10 years, was the preseason favorite. The Phoenix earned 24 of 29 first place votes and 284 points.

Wright State was second with one first place vote and 240 total points. Butler was fifth with 204 points and one first place vote, while Valparaiso (179 points), UIC (97), Loyola (94, 1 first place vote), Youngstown State (71) and Detroit (41) rounded out the poll.

This year's poll is a major improvement from last season when the Vikings were picked to finish eighth with only 102 points.

The complete preseason poll follows:

1. Green Bay (284 points, 24 first place votes)
2. Wright State (241, 1)
3. Milwaukee (240, 2)
4. Cleveland State (228, 1)
5. Butler (204, 1)
6. Valparaiso (179)
7. UIC (97)
8. Loyola (94, 1)
9. Youngstown State (71)
10. Detroit (41)

The Vikings will resume practice for the upcoming season on Friday, Oct. 17 with the annual Viking Madness event at 6:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center.

CSU will host Lake Erie in an exhibition game on Nov. 9 at 3:00 p.m. in the Wolstein Center. The Vikings first regular season contest will be on Nov. 14 at Arizona State in the opening round of the Preseason WNIT Tipoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. EST