Tuesday, February 28, 2006

MORAVIAN WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM DROPS TO RECEIVING VOTES IN D3HOOPS.COM 13th REGULAR SEASON TOP 25 POLL

STERLING, VA --- The Moravian College women’s basketball team, which is 21-6 this season, dropped back to receiving votes in the D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll 13th regular season poll announced Tuesday. The complete poll can be viewed at http://www.d3hoops.com/top25/.

The Greyhounds, under the direction of 19-year head coach Mary Beth Spirk, were ranked 19th in the preseason poll, 15th in the first regular season poll and 12th in the second poll of the year. Moravian was ranked 18th in the third and fourth polls prior to slipping to 20th. The team had moved back up to 17th in the sixth poll and 16th in the seventh poll before a pair of losses dropped the squad from the rankings.

The Greyhounds returned to the top 25 in the ninth poll at 19th before falling out again for the next two weeks. Last week, Moravian was back in at 24th; however, the Greyhounds dropped to 45 points and two spots out of the Top 25 this week. Moravian has won 21 of its 27 games of the year by an average of 9.5 points, and the team was 11-3 in Commonwealth Conference regular season action.

The University of Southern Maine retained the top spot in the nation with 19 first-place votes and 618 points. The University of Scranton is second with 598 points and two first-place votes.

Moravian dropped a 67-62 decision to Scranton on Wednesday, December 7th in Johnston Hall. The Greyhounds defeated ninth-ranked Messiah College, 67-63, on January 25th in Johnston Hall, and lost to the Falcons, 69-55, on February 11th, and 75-52 in the Commonwealth Conference Championship game on February 25th. The Greyhounds’ also suffered a 66-59 setback to rival Muhlenberg College, which is ranked 15th this week.

Moravian will return to action in an NCAA Division III National Championship Tournament First Round game versus Greensboro (NC) College on Friday, March 3rd tipping off at 5:00 p.m. at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia. This is the Greyhounds’ sixth trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament and first since 1992-93.