Women's Basketball

ART U Picked to Repeat as 2014-15 PacWest Champions

Forthan named Preseason Player of the Year

 
2014-15 PacWest
Women’s Basketball Poll
1. Academy of Art (11) 167
2. Azusa Pacific (2) 155
3. California Baptist 139
4. Hawai’i Pacific 125
5. Point Loma 110
6. Dixie State 93
7. Fresno Pacific 92
8. Dominican 71
9. Hawai’i Hilo 67
10. Notre Dame de Namur 58
11. Holy Names 46
12. BYU-Hawaii 42
13. Chaminade 18
First-place votes in parenthesis
IRVINE, Calif. – Academy of Art, the defending PacWest regular-season women’s basketball champion, was picked to repeat in 2014-15 in a preseason vote of the league’s coaches, released Wednesday. The Urban Knights have also won the PacWest Championship tournament and represented the conference in the NCAA West Regional in each of the last two seasons.
 
ART U received 11 first-place votes and 167 total points to earn the honor of preseason favorite for the second-consecutive year. Azusa Pacific received the other two first-place votes to finish second. California Baptist, Hawai’i Pacific, Point Loma and Dixie State rounded out the potential field for the 2015 PacWest Championship tournament.
 
The 2015 PacWest Championship will again feature the top-six teams in the PacWest standings and be held at Concordia University Irvine March 5-7. Fresno Pacific and Holy Names are the only schools not eligible for the tournament this season.
 
Academy of Art junior Krystal Forthan was named the PacWest Preseason Player of the Year. Forthan was the PacWest Player and Newcomer of the Year last year after transferring from LSU. She was also a third-team Daktronics All-American and two-time all-region pick.
 
The Preseason All-PacWest team featured three players who were first-team picks last year in Forthan, California Baptist’s Kamille Diaz and Azusa Pacific’s Kelly Hardeman. Diaz was also the PacWest Freshman of the Year. Also named to the team were Hawai’i Pacific’s Morganne Comstock and Point Loma’s Jessica Escorza, both second-team selections last year; and BYU-Hawaii’s Brydgette Leopoldo-Tatupu, a third-team honoree.
 
2014-15 Preseason All-PacWest Women’s Basketball Team
Name School Pos. Yr. Hometown/Previous School
Morganne Comstock Hawai’i Pacific F Sr. Seattle, Wash./Kentlake
Kamille Diaz California Baptist G So. Indio, Calif./JW North
Jessica Escorza Point Loma G Sr. South Riding, Va./Freedom
Krystal Forthan Academy of Art F Jr. Portland, Ore./Georgetown HS
Kelly Hardeman Azusa Pacific F Jr. Manila, Philippines/Faith Academy
Brydgette Leopoldo-Tatupu BYU-Hawaii G Sr. Honolulu, Hawaii/Farmington