Tuesday, December 20, 2005

MORAVIAN WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM FALLS ONE SPOT TO 19TH IN THIRD USA TODAY/ESPN DIVISION III TOP 25 COACHES’ POLL

LILBURN, GA --- The Moravian College women’s basketball team, which is off to an 8-1 start, dropped one spot to 19th in the nation in the third USA Today/ESPN Division III Top 25 Coaches’ Poll announced Tuesday by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association. The complete poll can be viewed at http://www.wbca.org/DIIICoachesPoll.asp.

The Greyhounds, under the direction of 19-year head coach Mary Beth Spirk, received votes in the coaches’ preseason poll but were not ranked in the Top 25 before debuting at 21st in the first regular season poll and moving up to 18th last week. Moravian has won eight of its first nine games of the year by an average of 15.0 points, and the team has begun its 2005-06 Commonwealth Conference season with a pair of victories.

The Washington University (MO) is the top team in the poll followed by George Fox University by eight points.

Moravian suffered a 67-62 loss to ninth-ranked the University of Scranton on December 7th in Johnston Hall. The Greyhounds will play sixth-ranked Messiah twice during the Commonwealth Conference season, in Johnston Hall on January 25th and in Grantham on February 11th. Both games are slated to begin at 6:00 p.m.

Moravian will return to action in a non-conference game versus Wilkes University on Wednesday, January 4th in Johnston Hall at 7:00 p.m.