Colorado State University Athletics
MWC announces women's basketball preseason poll
10/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Oct. 13, 2010
By Danielle Marshall
Athletic Media Relations
CENTENNIAL, Colo. – The Colorado State women’s basketball team was selected to finish eighth in the Mountain West Conference’s preseason poll. The standings were released Wednesday as part of the conference media day at The Mtn. studios.
TCU, which finished first in the regular season, was selected to repeat as the top team with 16 first-place votes. Defending conference champion San Diego State was picked to finish second (three first-place votes), followed by BYU (two), Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico and UNLV. Air Force was picked to finish in the ninth spot.
Head Coach Kristen Holt and the Rams finished 13-17 in 2009-10 en route to building their program of excellence, improving numbers in the win column by three from 2008-09, and nine since Holt took over the helm. Junior Kim Mestdagh was awarded with three conference Player of the Week honors. A second-team selection, she received the team’s first all-conference honor since Melissa Dennet in 2004-05.
This season CSU returns all but one letterwinner for the 2010-11 campaign. Captain Sara Hemmings leads the squad in her senior season along with Bonnie Barbee and Zoi Simmons. The junior class is led by Mestdagh, the leading returning point scorer in the Mountain West, followed by Meghan Heimstra and Chatilla van Grinsven. The sophomore class features fast-paced players Chantel Kennedy and Meixandra Porter.
The Rams bring in five newcomers, including four freshmen and junior transfer forward Kelly Hartig from Virginia. Hartig will be eligible to play beginning with the Rams’ contest Dec. 20 vs. South Dakota after having to sit out per NCAA transfer rules. The CSU opener vs. Colorado Christian on Nov. 5 will feature Hayley Thompson (Mullen High School), Sam Martin (Chaparral High School), and also twin sisters from Peaster, Texas, Amber and Mandy Makeever (Peaster High School).