Tuesday, January 17, 2006

MORAVIAN WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM FALLS ONE SPOT TO 16TH IN SIXTH
USA TODAY/ESPN DIVISION III TOP 25 COACHES’ POLL

LILBURN, GA --- The Moravian College women’s basketball team, which is off to a 13-1 start, fell one spot to 16th in the nation in the sixth 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 in the second poll. The Greyhounds dropped one spot to 19th in the third poll before moving back up to 18th two weeks ago. Moravian reached the 15th place last week. Moravian has won 13 of its first 14 games of the year by an average of 16.8 points, and the team has begun its 2005-06 Commonwealth Conference season with four victories.

The University of Southern Maine is the top team in the poll by receiving four first place votes and 122 points while Washington University (MO) is second with 116 points.

Moravian suffered a 67-62 loss to fifth-ranked the University of Scranton on December 7th in Johnston Hall. The Greyhounds will play 15th-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 Commonwealth Conference game at Widener University on Wednesday, January 18th in Chester at 6:00 p.m.