Bridgeport Women Predicted Eighth In Preseason East Coast Conference Basketball Poll

Central Islip, N.Y. – The East Coast Conference's women's basketball coaches have selected LIU Post as the front-runner to cut down the nets as ECC Champions in the 2013-14 season. Marissa Sell (Brockport, N.Y.), a junior forward from Roberts Wesleyan, was selected as the Preseason Player of the Year.

Six squads received first place votes in the preseason poll, but none received more than LIU Post's three. The Pioneers, who topped the poll with 109 points, are coming off a 19-10 record and a third straight NCAA Tournament appearance last season. Ten players, including their second and third leading scorers from a year ago, Alexis Peters (11.4 ppg) and Chelsea Williams (9.4 ppg), are back in the fold.

NYIT is next in the poll with 101 points and two first place votes. The Bears posted the best season in school history in 2012-13, setting program benchmarks with 23 wins and a first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Seven players are back from last year's edition including starters Demetra Apergis and Rebecca Romeo.

Dowling rounds out the top three with 87 points and two first place votes. The two-time defending ECC Champions are coming off one of the most successful seasons in ECC history, as they became the second team in conference history to win the NCAA East Region and the first to ever reach the National Championship game. With seven players back led by the ECC Championship Most Outstanding Player, Christine Verrelle, the Golden Lions begin the season with a No. 16 ranking in the USA Today Sports Top 25 poll. However, the squad has to make up for the graduation of ECC Player and Defensive Player of the Year, Danielle Wilson, and ECC All-Conference selection Connie Simmons.

Roberts Wesleyan (2), Queens (1), and Molloy (1) were the other schools to receive first place votes.

Sell is the only returning All-Conference selection from the 2012-13 season. In Roberts Wesleyan's first ECC campaign, Sell joined Wilson as the only players in the conference to average a double-double with 13.0 points per game and 10.2 rebounds per game averages. In 24 games, she accumulated nine double-doubles and also finished sixth in the conference with a 48.4 shooting percentage.

2013-2014 ECC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll

( ) - First Place Votes

Preseason Player of the Year – Marissa Sell, Roberts Wesleyan (Jr., F, 6-1)