Southern Miss favored to win C-USA women's crown

HUNTINGTON -- Southern Miss, coming off a 21-win season when the Golden Eagles advanced to the third round of the WNIT, is favored for the Conference USA women's championship.

Southern Miss has all five starters back.

The defending C-USA tournament champion, SMU, and regular-season champion UTEP were NCAA tournament teams and figure to be in this season's mix along with East Carolina.

Following is a preseason look at the teams by order of last season's finish:

UTEP (28-4, 16-0)

Jareica Hughes and Timika Williams are the only returning starters from an NCAA tournament team.

Hughes is on track to break school records for points, steals, assists and 3-pointers. The C-USA preseason player of the year is a 5-foot-3 junior guard. She averaged 14.6 points a season ago.

Williams, a 6-1 junior, averaged 8.8 points and 6.7 rebounds.

Hughes and Williams were high school teammates in Michigan.

SMU (24-9, 11-5)

SMU knocked off top-seeded UTEP for the C-USA tournament championship, giving the Mustangs their seventh NCAA tournament berth.

Delisha Wills (12.1 ppg, 5.1 rpg), Jillian Samuels (9.8 ppg) and Brittany Gilliam (8.7 ppg), all juniors, are returning starters.

Six-foot-two junior Alice Severin is a good post defender.

UAB (14-16, 10-6)

The Blazers finished in the top three of the standings for the second consecutive season.

Senior guard Britney Jones (12.8 ppg) is UAB's returning leading scorer. She was 36th in the nation with 2.7 steals a game.

Five-foot-10 Amanda Peterson received the C-USA Sixth Player of the Year award, averaging 8.5 points and 2.9 rebounds per contest.

Houston (15-16, 9-7)

Head coach Joe Curl is back on the bench after missing last season because of a heart attack he suffered on a recruiting trip. Curl underwent double-bypass surgery and had a pacemaker implanted.

Sophomore Courtney Taylor was third on last season's team in scoring (10.1). She was the leading rebounder (8.6). Cobilyn Hill, a 6-3 sophomore, averaged 7.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots.

Taylor and Hill both made the C-USA All-Freshman Team.

Southern Miss (21-14, 8-8)

All five starters return including preseason all-conference selection Pauline Love. The 6-foot junior led the Golden Eagles in scoring (16.2) and rebounding (10.3).

Senior guard Kenda Reed and 6-4 junior Stephanie Helgeson both scored 11.9 points a game. Helgeson also averaged 6.3 rebounds and blocked 92 shots.

Freshman guard Whitney McNelis is the daughter of head coach Joye Lee-McNelis.

Marshall (17-16, 7-9)

The Thundering Herd has four returning starters, including C-USA All-Defensive Team member Casey Baker. The 5-8 senior made 105 steals while averaging 11.9 points per game.

Alyssa Hammond, a 6-1 junior, scored 10 points a game. Sophomore Tynikki Crook, a 6-1 forward, posted averages of 8.3 points and 6.1 rebounds.Six-foot-three junior Chantelle Handy was good for 4.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per contest.

Freshman Kamille Lisonbee (6-3) and freshman Tania Walters (5-foot) are the tallest and shortest players.

Memphis (10-20, 7-9)

First-season head coach Melissa McFerrin has three seniors -- Paris Leonard, Ashley Thornton and Jessica Jackson -- who accounted for 774 points and 451 rebounds.

McFerrin is the former head coach at American University.

Leonard, a 5-8 guard, had an 11.6 scoring average. Thornton, a 6-foot forward, averaged 9.2 points and 7.1 rebounds. The 6-3 Jackson, a senior, put up 6.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots.

East Carolina (13-17, 7-9)

The Pirates were the only school with two players on the preseason all-conference team, senior guards LaCoya Terry (15.4 ppg, 5.0 rpg) and Jasmine Young (14.1 ppg, 6.2 assists).

Terry and Young both ranked among the league's top 10 scorers and have surpassed 1,000-career points.

Sophomore guard Allison Spivey and 6-1 senior Gabriela Husarova both scored about seven points per game.

Rice (14-18, 6-10)

The Owls are on the comeback trail after their streak of 11 consecutive winning seasons ended.

Leading scorers back are senior guard Maudess Fulton and junior guard Tara Watts, with both averaging 8.1 per game.

Morgan Mayse, a 6-1 forward, averaged 7.5 points and 4.4 rebounds as a freshman.

Tulsa (11-20, 6-10)

All-CUSA preseason selection Larissa Williams is one of five returning starters. Williams, a 6-3 junior, almost averaged a double-double with 14.4 points and 9.5 rebounds a game.

Chanel Johnson, a 6-3 senior, blocked 85 shots. She averaged 10.7 points and 6.6 rebounds.

Sophomore players Tatum Beer (8.7 ppg), ReShawndra Jackson (7.4 ppg) and Kara Vaughan (6.1 ppg) also were starters.

Tulane (16-14, 6-10)

Senior guard Ashley Langford opens the season fifth in C-USA history with 538 assists. Langford led the team in scoring (11.9) and assists (5.33).

Brittany Lindsay is a 6-1 sophomore who averaged 9.7 points and 5.8 rebounds.

Sophomore Kiara Slaton and freshman Brett Benzio are both 6-3.

UCF (10-20, 3-13)

Ten wins wasn't much, but it was the most for UCF in three seasons.

Emma Cannon is the returning leader in scoring and rebounding. The 6-2 member of last season's C-USA All-Freshman Team averaged 11.7 points and 8.7 rebounds.

Sophomore guards Marshay White and D'Nay Daniels both scored in double figures.