BURNSVILLE, Minn. - The Golden Bears Women's Basketball team was slated to finish sixth in the NSIC and tie for fourth in the South Division in a preseason coaches' poll that was released on Wednesday. MSU Moorhead was predicted to finish first in the conference and Augustana was projected to win the South Division.
 
This poll is conducted by the NSIC as coaches rank each team from 1 to 15 with a first place vote receiving 15 points, second place 14, third place 13, etc. Coaches do not rank their own team or vote for their own players.
 
Concordia finished tied for fifth in last season's conference season with a 15-7 conference record, and finished third in the South Division. The Golden Bears received a total of 140 points, which was 12 points behind Winona State, who was predicted to place fifth and eight points ahead of Minnesota State, who was pegged to finish seventh.  
 
MSU Moorhead, who was tabbed to win the conference, received 213 total points, which was only four points more than Northern State received. MSU Moorhead, Northern State, and Augustana all received first place votes. For the South Division, Augustana was predicted to take first with 47 points. Wayne State and Winona State were picked second and third, respectively, and Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State each received 29 points which put them in a tie for the fourth place spot.
 
The Bears return nine players for the 2017-18 season and add four new players to this year's squad. Among the returners is junior guard Anna Schmitt who was named to the All-NSIC First Team last season and led the conference in scoring, averaging 18.3 points per game. Also returning for the Bears, is the conference's leading rebounder, Kyrah Fredenburg, who averaged 10.3 rebounds per game. Schmitt is only ten points shy of the 1,000 mark as she gets ready to begin her junior season. The Bears will need to replace three senior starters from the 2016-17 season, two of which averaged over 12 points a game.
 
The North Division Player of the Year was predicted to be senior Drew Sannes from MSU Moorhead and senior Paige Ballinger from Wayne State was marked as the South Division Player of the Year. This is the second straight year that Ballinger has been named the preseason Player of the Year.  
 
The NSIC regular season champion will be based on the 22-game NSIC schedule.  Each team will play teams in their division twice (14) and teams in the other division once (8).  An NSIC North and South Division Champion will also be awarded.  Divisional standings will also be based on all 22 NSIC contests played.  In the case of a tie, co-champions will be awarded. The 16-team NSIC / Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Championships are set to take place Sat.-Tues., Feb. 24-27 at the Sanford Health Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.  First round games will be played on the campus of the top eight seeds on Wednesday, Feb. 21.
 
The Golden Bears open up their 2017-18 schedule on November 10^th as they travel to Kansas City to take on Pittsburg State at 12 p.m. They will face Harding the following day at 5 p.m. Their first home game is on November 16^th against Northern Michigan and their conference debut takes place on December 1^st against Augustana at the Gangelhoff Center. Make sure to follow along with all the basketball action this season at cspbears.com and watch live games at cspbears.com/watch.