Micah Jones Begins Senior Season at SIUE
Published on October 24 2018 8:45 am
Last Updated on October 24 2018 8:45 am
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville women's basketball Coach Paula Buscher doesn't put much stock in preseason polls, which were announced Tuesday at the Ohio Valley Conference Media Day. She's more interested in making the right future happen for the Cougars.
"My belief is where this team ends up depends on how we grow each and every day," said Buscher. "We are the perfect college athletic team. We had three 1,000-point scorers graduate and leave us. Now the door is open for somebody else to step in."
Buscher has 17 players on the opening day roster as her team was selected fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference media poll and sixth in the coaches and sports information directors' poll.
SIUE lost Donshel Beck, Gwen Adams and Lauren White from last season's team that advanced to the Women's Basketball Invitational.
The Cougars have three starters – senior Jay'nee Alston, senior Sydney Bauman and sophomore Allie Troeckler. SIUE also boasts eight newcomers to the 2018-19 roster.
"The deal is that we are unproven in front of other people at games but not unproven in practice," said Buscher. "The door is open, and this is a great opportunity for a lot of young women to take the best opportunity that is coming at them."
A member of the squad is Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City's Micah Jones, a 6-foot-1 senior forward. Jones has had a tough time at SIUE. She was sidelined for the 2015-16 season with an injury that occurred during the exhibition season.
Then last year as a junior, a preseason injury again took her out for the season. During the 2016-17 season, she scored 5.9 points per game and had 4.9 rebounds. She is 35th on the all-time scoring list with 767 points. She was second on the team in blocks with 13.
Her freshman year, she was selected on the Ohio Valley Conference All-Newcomer team, named OVC Player and Freshman of the Week (Feb. 11) after averaging 16.5 points per game for the week and leading the Cougars to an upset win over UT Martin (their lone conference loss of the season). She was named Freshman of the Week three times and finished the season scoring in double digits in each of her final 11 games
SIUE begins the exhibition season Nov. 5 at home against Illinois Wesleyan. The regular season opens Nov. 11 at the Vadalabene Center vs. Illinois State.
2018-19 Media OVC Preseason Women's Predicted Order of Finish
1. Belmont (11 first-place votes) - 143 points
2. UT Martin - 129
3. Morehead State (1) - 117
4. SIUE - 100
5. Jacksonville State - 95
6. Southeast Missouri - 73
7. Austin Peay - 65
8. Murray State - 59
9. Tennessee Tech - 49
10. Eastern Kentucky - 42
11. Tennessee State - 38
12. Eastern Illinois – 26
2018-19 OVC Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches/SID Poll
1. Belmont (20 first-place votes) - 240 points
2. UT Martin (3) – 204
3. Jacksonville State – 180
4. Morehead State – 179
5. Southeast Missouri – 154
6. SIUE (1) – 149
7. Tennessee Tech – 112
8. Tennessee State – 93
9. Austin Peay - 86
10. Eastern Kentucky – 62
11. Eastern Illinois – 60
12. Murray State - 58
2018-19 Women's Basketball Preseason All-OVC Team
Darby Maggard, Belmont
Tia Wooten, Tennessee State
Miranda Crockett, Morehead State
Tesia Thompson, Southeast Missouri
Jenny Roy, Belmont
Chelsey Perry, UT Martin
Grace Lennox, Eastern Illinois
Emanye Robertson, UT Martin
Mackenzie Coleman, Tennessee Tech
Taylor Roberts, Tennessee State