2016-17 Women's Basketball Preseason Poll and All-PacWest Team

IRVINE, Calif. – California Baptist was picked as the preseason favorite in PacWest Women’s basketball, based on a vote of the league’s coaches released Thursday. The Lancers are the top pick for the second-consecutive year and feature two Preseason All-PacWest selections, including Preseason Player of the Year Cassidy Mihalko.
 
CBU received 10 first-place votes to lead the poll at 180 points, narrowly surpassing Azusa Pacific, who had two first-place votes and 176 points. The two teams shared the PacWest title last season, both finishing 19-1 in conference and only losing to each other on the road. They met in the PacWest Championship final, with APU winning, 75-58, for its first conference championship. Both Azusa Pacific and California Baptist reached the NCAA West Regional semifinals.
 
Academy of Art came in third in the poll with 158 points. The Urban Knights were an at-large pick to the NCAA West Region, marking their third-consecutive trip to the postseason. Hawai’i Pacific followed closely in fourth place with 154 points, including a first-place vote. Point Loma also garnered a first-place vote to come in fifth place with 145 points. Dominican came in sixth place with 129 points to round out the predicted PacWest Championship field.
 
The 2017 PacWest Women’s Basketball Championship returns to CU Arena in Irvine, Calif., for the final year, March 2-4.
 
Mihalko became the first CBU player to be named Preseason Player of the Year. A first-team All-PacWest selection (third-career honor), she shared the PacWest scoring title (20.1 ppg) and ranked second in field goal percentage (.556) and first in three-point field goal percentage (.490). A three-time PacWest Player of the Week, Mihalko was a D2CCAA and WBCA Honorable Mention All-American, and a first-team all-region selection by both organizations. She was also a CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-American.
 
The Preseason All-PacWest team featured three Point Loma players – Alex Brunk, Roya Rustamzada and Madison West. West and Brunk earned their first All-PacWest honors last season, named to the second and third teams, respectively. Brunk had 36 points and 16 rebounds in the Sea Lions’ PacWest Championship opening round loss, the second-highest scoring output in tournament history.
 
Sandra Ikeora (Dominican), Breanna Mackenzie (Hawai’i Pacific) and Courtney Nelson (CBU) rounded out the preseason all-conference team. All three were All-PacWest Second Team members last season.