Tampa Selected SSC Women’s Basketball Preseason Favorite in 2021-22

MELBOURNE, Fla. - Sunshine State Conference women's basketball coaches selected the University of Tampa as the conference's top team heading into the 2021-22 season. The Spartans earn the top spot following 91 total points and nine first-place votes in the preseason poll.

Florida Southern College finished second in the ranking with 83 points and a first-place vote, while Eckerd College followed in third place with 76 points and the final first-place vote. Saint Leo University sits in fourth place with 67 points, and Nova Southeastern University rounds out the Top-5 after receiving 60 points from league coaches. Barry University lands in the center of the poll with 53 points and is followed by Palm Beach Atlantic University (37 points) in the Rankings. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (36 points), Florida Tech (36 points), Lynn University (36 points), and Rollins College (30 points) hold the final three positions in the ranking.

2021-22 SSC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE

Due to COVID-19, the 2020-21 SSC basketball season went forward with only seven teams and no conference standings. Tampa bested the field to win the program's sixth SSC tournament championship, the first since 2015-16.

Tampa also stands as the defending SSC regular-season champion. The Spartans program earned its sixth regular-season title by finishing 2019-20 at 19-1 in the conference standings. Eckerd jumped up and won the 2019-20 SSC tournament title as the number two seed. Marking the second time the Tritons have hoisted the postseason trophy. Before canceling the 2020 Division II Women's Basketball Championship, the NCAA announced that Tampa, Eckerd, and Florida Southern earned regional bids.

Head coach Tom Jessee returns four starters from last season's team, each of which played for the 2019-20 SSC regular-season champions. Melijah Sullivan led the Spartans in scoring last season, averaging 15.9 points per contest. Dori Nagy and LaShayla Wright-Ponder also averaged double figures as Nagy led all Spartans with 9.5 rebounds per game. In total, nine Spartan letterwinners return from last season's squad.

The majority of SSC teams will start their seasons with non-conference games on Friday, November 12th. Nova Southeastern and Tampa head to Billings, Montana, a week earlier to compete in the D2CCA Tipoff Classic at the Trailhead. League play begins on Saturday, November 20th, with 10 of 11 teams in action.

Below are the full results of the 2021-22 SSC preseason women's basketball coaches' poll. Coaches are not allowed to vote for their teams (points: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1, first-place votes in parentheses).

2021-22 SSC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON COACHES POLL

See Also: SSC All-Americans | All-SSC Teams |SSC Champions | Elite 8 Appearances

Previous SSC Women's Basketball Polls & Champions