Oct. 10, 2007

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Samford women's basketball team has been picked second in the preseason Ohio Valley Conference poll, released at the league's annual Basketball Media Day Wednesday at LP Field.

"I'm really excited about our team this year," Samford head coach Mike Morris said. "It all starts with Alex Munday, who is the leading scorer in the history of our program, Taryn Towns our senior point guard and Megan Wilderotter is a fire-plug for our team.

"We also have some young ladies who have been in our program who will be going from a smaller role on our team to a bigger role," Morris said. "I think those young ladies have the talent and ability to do that, and I am also excited about the three new players we are bringing in this year."

The poll, voted on by the league's head coaches and sports information directors, picked defending champion Southeast Missouri to win the conference with 199 points. Samford earned 161 points for second place, and Murray State was picked third with 155 points.

Senior forward Alex Munday, who has led Samford in scoring in each of her three seasons with the Bulldogs, was named to the preseason All-Conference team. She was named first-team All-Conference last season, and second-team All-Conference as a sophomore.

Munday averaged a team-high 14.0 points per game last season, and she was second on the team in rebounding, pulling down 4.6 boards per contest. Munday is Samford's all-time leading scorer with 1,309 career points.

Samford returns three of its five starters from the 2006-07 squad. Along with Munday, senior guard Taryn Towns and junior guard Megan Wilderotter return to the team. Last season, Towns led the team in assists with 77, and she was fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 7.2 points per game. Wilderotter led the team in steals with 33, she was second on the team in assists with 61, and she was fifth in scoring at 6.0 points per game.

Samford opens practice on Saturday with a 5 p.m. workout at Seibert Hall. The team opens the regular season on Nov. 9, playing at LSU in the Preseason WNIT.

2007-08 OVC PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Rachel Galligan, Eastern Illinois
Jessica Huffman, Eastern Illinois
Crystal Jones, Eastern Kentucky
Amber Guffey, Murray State
Alex Munday, Samford
Missy Whitney, Southeast Missouri
Ashley N. Hayes, Murray State
Sonya Daugherty, Southeast Missouri
Phyllisha Mitchell, Tennessee-Martin
Obiagelli Okafor, Tennessee State

2007-08 OVC PRESEASON POLL
1. Southeast Missouri (19), 199
2. Samford (2), 161
3. Murray State, 155
4. Eastern Illinois (1), 119
5. Tennessee Tech, 118
6. Tennessee-Martin, 114
7. Eastern Kentucky, 105
8. Morehead State, 100
9. Austin Peay, 69
10. Tennessee State, 48
11. Jacksonville State, 22

First-place votes are in parenthesis. Schools were not allowed to vote for their own teams. A total of 10 points was awarded per first-place vote, nine for second, etc.