ABOUT UWF
* Fifth-year head coach Stephanie Lawrence Yelton has four starters and eight letterwinners back from last year's 17-10 squad that finished tied for third in the GSC regular season at 15-7.
* Yelton is 62-51 in four seasons at UWF and 119-135 in nine as a college head coach, which includes a 57-84 mark in at Charleston Southern from 2001-06 ... She is a 1996 North Carolina graduate who graduated as the school's all-time leader in every 3-point category..

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE OFFSEASON
* Former assistant coach Jessie Ivey was named the National Division 2 Assistant Coach of the Year by the WBCA, before accepting a similar position at Bowling Green ... UWF hired former WNBA veteran LaQuanda Quick as her replacement. Quick spent last season at Winston Salem State and has been put in charge of the Argonaut defense ... UWF took a foreign tour to the Dominican Republic from Aug. 11-18. The squad played four games, visited local sugarcane villages, orphanages and women's shelters while ministering and sharing the love of basketball.

UWF PICKED 3RD IN GSC PRESEASON POLL
* The UWF women's basketball team was picked to finish third in the Gulf South Conference preseason coaches poll ... UWF earned a total of 101 points in the voting process, collecting one first place vote, a league-high five second-place votes, one third, three fourth and a fifth place vote.
* Defending regular-season champion Union was picked first, followed by Delta State, which won the GSC Tournament title. Lee followed UWF in fourth, and Shorter was picked fifth.
* Seniors Katie Bobos and Alex Coyne were each named to the 5-member preseason all-conference team ... Bobos was a second-team all-GSC and academic all-GSC honoree last year after averaging 12.8 points and 8.0 rebounds. The Lowell, Indiana native scored in double figures in 21 games and collected eight double-doubles ... Coyne was also a second team choice a year ago after transferring from Southern Miss. In her first season with the Argos, the point guard from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania averaged 10.0 points, 6.7 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game. She led the GSC and ranked fifth in the NCAA in assists, and was third in GSC and 49th nationally in steals.

GSC Preseason Coaches Poll
Team Poll Points
1. Union (10) 120
2. Delta State (1) 103
3. West Florida (1) 101
4. Lee 94
5. Shorter 83
6. Alabama Huntsville 66
7. West Georgia 57
8. Christian Brothers 45
9. Valdosta State 44
10. West Alabama 42
11. North Alabama 24
12. Mississippi College 13

First place votes in parenthesis

ABOUT ECKERD
* The Tritons went 12-14 a year ago ... they were 6-10 in Sunshine State Conference play, finishing in 7th place in the 9-team league ... they ended the year on a 5-game losing streak & dropped six of their last seven SSC contests.
* EC was picked to finish tied for 6th in a vote of the league coaches ... The league ranked 9 teams, but not transitioning Palm Beach Atlantic and Embry-Riddle, both of whom are included in the league schedule.
* The leading scorer from a year ago, C Ashley Folson is back for the Tritons after averaging 11.6 points and 4.6 rebounds as a junior ... She played two years at Southern Miss with UWF senior PG Alex Coyne before both players transferred schools.

ABOUT ALBANY STATE
* ASU went 14-13 last season and 13-4 in the SIAC East Division ... The Lady Rams were picked to finish third in the SIAC East this season, with Benedict and and Claflin ahead of them.
* The Lady Rams return veterans Zuri Frost (10.2 ppg), Kayla Green (4.3 ppg) and Elesha Foster (4.5 ppg) for 2016-2017 ... ASU lost eight players from last year's team.