The University of Mississippi Athletics
SEC Coaches Tab Thomas Preseason All-SEC
10/29/2009 | Women's Basketball
In the closest vote yet, Tennessee was predicted to win the Southeastern Conference women's basketball regular season championship over LSU by one vote. The Lady Vols were 22-11, 9-5 in the SEC last season, while LSU finished 19-11, 10-4 in conference play.
Mississippi State, Georgia, Vanderbilt and South Carolina round out the top half of the league with Florida, Auburn, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Kentucky and Alabama rounding out the lower half.
LSU senior guard Allison Hightower was named SEC Women's Basketball Preseason Player of the Year. Joining Hightower on the All-SEC First Team were Arkansas' C'eira Ricketts, Georgia's Ashley Houts and Angel Robinson, LSU teammate LaSondra Barrett, Mississippi State's Alexis Rack and Tennessee's Angie Bjorklund and Shekinna Stricklen.
Second team consists of Auburn's Alli Smalley, Georgia's Porsha Phillips, Kentucky's Victoria Dunlap, Ole Miss' Bianca Thomas, Mississippi State's Armelie Lumanu and Chanel Mokango, Tennessee's Glory Johnson and Vanderbilt's Merideth Marsh and Hannah Tuomi.
Thomas, who selected to the preseason All-SEC second team by the media, put together a breakout season last year and turned herself into one of the league's top players. She finished the season ranked fourth in the conference in scoring with 15.8 points per game and produced nine games of 20 points or more, including a career-high 31 points in the first round of the SEC Tournament. Thomas returns for the 2009-10 season as the SEC's leading scorer.
She also proved to be one of the top sharp-shooters in the conference and ended the season sixth in the SEC with a .353 shooting percentage from three-point range. In fact, Thomas set a new school record for the most treys in a season with 73 and tied the single game record with the seven three-pointers she hit against Mississippi State.
In addition to her selection to the preseason All-SEC second team, Thomas garnered one vote for SEC preseason Player of the Year accolades.
Points were compiled on an 11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis for order of prediction, while each player received two points for a first-team vote and one point for a second-team vote. Ties were not broken and coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team or players.
Ole Miss opens the 2009-10 season Thursday, Nov. 5 when the Rebels host Christian Brothers at 7 p.m. in an exhibition game from Tad Smith Coliseum.
School - Points
Tennessee - 112
LSU - 111
Mississippi State - 100
Georgia - 91
Vanderbilt - 86
South Carolina - 56
Florida- 55
Auburn- 51
Arkansas - 49
Ole Miss - 39
Kentucky - 27
Alabama - 13
First Team All-SEC
C'eira Ricketts, Arkansas
Ashley Houts, Georgia
Angel Robinson, Georgia
LaSondra Barrett, LSU
Allison Hightower, LSU
Alexis Rack, Mississippi State
Angie Bjorklund, Tennessee
Shekinna Stricklen, Tennessee
Second Team All-SEC
Alli Smalley, Auburn
Porsha Phillips, Georgia
Victoria Dunlap, Kentucky
Bianca Thomas, Ole Miss
Armelie Lumanu, Mississippi State
Chanel Mogango, Mississippi State
Glory Johnson, Tennessee
Merideth Marsh, Vanderbilt
Hannah Tuomi, Vanderbilt
Player of the Year - Points
Allison Hightower - 9
Ashley Houts - 1
Angel Robinson - 1
Bianca Thomas - 1
