STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Women's Basketball team was picked seventh in a preseason poll of the Southern Conference's 11 head coaches. Junior Meredyth Frye was also named to the league's Preseason All-Conference team. The Eagles open the 2011-12 season on November 11th against Arizona.

Chattanooga led the voting with nine first place votes while Appalachian State received the other two votes. Elon, Samford and Davidson rounded out the top-5. The Wildcats came in fifth but boast the preseason player of the year, Sophia Alexandravicius. They also had Laura Murray selected to the preseason all-conference team.

Furman received four more points than the Eagles for sixth place. UNCG, Western Carolina, College of Charleston and Wofford rounded out the 11-team poll.

Georgia Southern finished last season with a 12-18 record and a 9-11 mark in the Southern Conference. Frye led the team with 11.6 points per game last season and was second on the team with 5.2 rebounds per contest.

"Meredyth is who everybody is going to key. She is a crunch player and we are working on some things to get her isolated. She knows how to defend and can finish around the basket at a very high level. She is a general all purpose type player for us and those are very rare to have. To me she is the key of our team this year," said Cram.

Frye had a number of great moments on the court last year including a game winning last-second layup against UNC Greensboro and finished the year with 347 points. She made the most of her opportunities at the free throw line, making 81% of her shots last season.

The Georgia Southern Women's Basketball squad opens their season at home in the first of doubleheader of basketball action at Hanner Fieldhouse on November 11th. The women face Arizona at 5 p.m. while the men take on Valparaiso at 7:30 p.m.

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