women’s basketball
ranked in preseason poll

The Muhlenberg women’s basketball team is ranked 24th in the 2008-09 D3Hoops.com preseason Division III poll.

The Mules return all but two players from a squad that went 21-7 and won the Centennial Conference championship last year. They lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to local rival DeSales, which went on to the Sweet 16 and is ranked No. 9 in the preseason poll.

This is the second time Muhlenberg has appeared in the D3Hoops.com preseason top 25. The Mules were rated 20th prior to the start of the 2002-03 season. They also received votes in the 2006-07 preseason poll.

The highest preseason ranking in program history came in 1997, when Muhlenberg was tabbed ninth by College Sports magazine. The team’s highest regular-season ranking was No. 8 (by D3hoops.com) in January 2002.

Centennial Conference rival Franklin & Marshall, which tied Muhlenberg and Dickinson for the regular-season title last year, received one vote in the preseason poll. Marymount, in whose tournament the Mules will participate in January, is ranked 22nd.

Muhlenberg opens the season by hosting St. Elizabeth (15-12 last year) in the first round of the Scotty Wood Tournament on November 21. The other teams in the tournament are Penn State Altoona (10-16) and NCAA Tournament invitee William Paterson (20-7).