LA GRANDE, Ore. – Collecting 10 of the 11 first-place votes, the Eastern Oregon women’s basketball team was selected as the favorite in the 2015-16 Cascade Collegiate Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll after a vote of the head coaches.
Last season, the Mountaineers earned an overall record of 26-7 while going 16-2 in conference play to win the CCC regular season title, finishing one game ahead of Southern Oregon. EOU returns four key players including the 2014-15 CCC Freshman of the Year Maya Ay You who recorded 11 points per game with 3.5 rebounds. Eastern Oregon totaled 120 points in the preseason poll.
Coming in second in the poll was Southern Oregon with 105 points with one first-place vote. Finishing second in the regular season a year ago, 27-5 overall, 15-3 CCC, the Raiders will be under new direction this year in first year head coach Alex Carlson.
Rounding out the top three is Oregon Tech who earned 99 points in the poll after claiming the CCC tournament championship last year as the fifth seed in the tournament. The Owls finished last year with an overall record of 23-11, 9-9 in conference play.
College of Idaho landed in fourth with 81 points followed by a tie for fifth with Corban and Northwest Christian each earning 74 points.
Northwest landed in the seventh spot with 51 points while The Evergreen State College came in eighth (50) and Warner Pacific in ninth (38).
Finishing out the bottom of the poll are CCC newcomers Multnomah (19) and Walla Walla (15).
2015-16 CCC Preseason Coaches' Poll
| Place |
Institution |
Points |
2014-15 Overall |
2014-15 CCC |
| 1. |
Eastern Oregon (10) |
120 |
26-7 |
16-2 |
| 2 |
Southern Oregon (1) |
105 |
27-5 |
15-3 |
| 3. |
Oregon Tech |
99 |
23-11 |
9-9 |
| 4. |
College of Idaho |
81 |
8-20 |
7-11 |
| 5. |
Corban |
74 |
17-14 |
11-7 |
| 5. |
Northwest Christian |
74 |
17-11 |
8-10 |
| 7. |
Northwest |
51 |
12-17 |
4-14 |
| 8. |
Evergreen |
50 |
16-10 |
10-8 |
| 9. |
Warner Pacific |
38 |
11-19 |
4-14 |
| 10. |
Multnomah |
19 |
6-15 |
N/A |
| 11. |
Walla Walla |
15 |
0-20 |
N/A |
First place votes in parentheses