Women's Basketball Earns No. 21 Preseason Ranking
October 09, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Oct. 9, 2006
Louisville, Ky. - University of Louisville women's basketball team earned a preseason ranking of No. 21 by the CBS Sportsline.com College Basketball Preview. The Cardinals are one of six BIG EAST teams ranked in the poll, No. 7 Connecticut, No. 13 DePaul, No. 19 Rutgers, No. 23 Marquette and No. 24 Pittsburgh.
"It's nice to get some preseason recognition and hopefully we can live up to the ranking," said head coach Tom Collen. "The more amazing thing about the poll is that it ranks six BIG EAST teams in the Top 25 and 10 in the Top 64. Throw in nonconference games with Kentucky, Florida, Western Kentucky and Xavier and we will have plenty of opportunities to prove ourselves."
The Cardinals return three of their top four scorers from last season. Leading the way is senior Jazz Covington. Covington was named to the preseason Wade Trophy Watch List this season after averaging 13.7 points and 6.9 rebounds last season. Helping Covington will be seniors Katie Olson and Helen Johnson. Olson has been a starter for the Cards the last three seasons and averaged 5.9 points and 3.1 rebound per game last year. Johnson returns as the Cardinals' top three-point shooter after averaging 7.8 points per game. Sophomore Angel McCoughtry led the Cardinals in rebounding and steals last season while averaging 9.2 points per game as a reserve.
Louisville will begin the 2006-07 season on Nov. 10 as they host Dayton in the Cardinal Classic at 7:30 p.m. in Knights Hall on the Bellarmine University campus.
