ARLINGTON, Va. - Under the direction of fifth-year head coach Jeri
Porter, the George Mason women's basketball team was picked to finish tied for
seventh in the 11-team Colonial Athletic Association by a preseason poll of the
league's head coaches. Senior Amber Easter was named to the All-CAA second team
as both polls were announced Tuesday at Champps Restaurant during the CAA
basketball media day.
Finishing seventh in the league last year, Mason posted an overall
record of 15-16 to go along with a league mark of 8-10 and advanced to the
quarterfinal round of the CAA Tournament. The Patriots return 10 letterwinners
from last season's squad, including three starters in Easter, Janaa Pickard and
Rahneeka Saunders. Added to the roster were four newcomers in Taylor Brown,
Kyana Jacobs, Reana Mohamed and Sandra Ngoie.
Easter, a 6'0" guard/forward from Hampton, Va., begins her final
year donning the Green and Gold. The team's top returning scorer at 12.0 points
per game, Easter also was the leading rebounder (7.0 rpg) in 2011-12. Appearing
in 30 games last season, Easter posted nine double-doubles and drained a
career-high 22 points in the opening round of the CAA Tournament against
Northeastern. The senior connected on 70
percent of her free throw attempts and 39.4 percent of her field goal attempts.
Delaware was predicted to defend its 2012 CAA title returning all
five starters to the squad. The Blue Hens were followed in the voting by James
Madison, Hofstra and Drexel. Old Dominion and Northeastern followed with Mason
and UNCW tying for seventh. Towson and William and Mary tied for ninth,
followed by Georgia State.
Comprising the All-CAA first team were Delaware's Elena Delle
Donne, Hofstra's Shante Evans, James Madison's Tarik Hislop, Northeastern's
Deanna Kerkhof and Drexel's Hollie Mershon. Joining Easter on the All-CAA second
team were JMU's Kirby Burkholder and Nikki Newman, Delaware's Lauren Carra and William
and Mary's Emily Correal. Delle Donne was tabbed the CAA Preseason Player of
the Year for the second straight season.
The Patriots open the 2012-13 campaign with an exhibition game
against Davis & Elkins on Friday, November 2 at 7 p.m. The regular season
officially kicks off with Mason on the road at Oakland on November 9.
2012-13 CAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
1. Delaware
2. James
Madison
3. Hofstra
4. Drexel
5. Old
Dominion
6. Northeastern
7. George Mason
UNCW
9. Towson
William & Mary
11. Georgia
State
2012-13 CAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
First Team Cl. Pos. Ht. Hometown/Previous
School
Elena
Delle Donne, Delaware* Sr. G/F 6-5 Wilmington, Del./Ursuline Academy
Shante
Evans, Hofstra* Sr. F 6-0 West Chester, Pa./Henderson
Tarik
Hislop, James Madison# Sr. G 5-7 Silver Spring, Md./Paint Branch
Deanna
Kerkhof, Northeastern^ Sr. G 5-11 Wallaceburg, Ontario/Ursuline
College
Hollie
Mershon, Drexel# Sr. G/F 5-10 Malvern, Pa./Archbishop Carroll
Second Team Cl. Pos. Ht. Hometown/Previous
School
Kirby
Burkholder, James Madison^ Jr. G 6-0 Bridgewater, Va./Turner Ashby
Lauren
Carra, Delaware^ Sr. G 5-9 Dunmore, Pa./Dunmore
Emily
Correal, William & Mary Sr. F 6-3 Venetia, Pa./Peter's Township
Amber
Easter, George Mason Sr. G/F 6-0 Hampton, Va./Bethel
Nikki
Newman, James Madison Sr. G/F 6-2 Harrisonburg, Va./Turner Ashby
CAA Preseason Player of the Year: Elena
Delle Donne, Delaware
Honorable Mention: Ashley
Betz-White, Old Dominion; Candace Bond, Hofstra; Karneshia Garrett, UNCW; Jewel
Tunstull, Northeastern
*1st
team All-CAA in 2011-12
#
2nd team All-CAA in 2011-12
^
3rd team All-CAA in 2011-12
