Posted: Oct 24, 2019

Salve Regina picked seventh in pre-season coaches' poll

Torie Scorpio joins with Lauryn Becker and Olivia Valerio to lead a young Seahawk squad in 2019-20.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (October 24, 2019) - After claiming its first-ever Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Tournament title in 2018-19, Western New England was tabbed to repeat the feat in 2019-20. The Golden Bears received 75 points in the poll, including four of a possible nine first place votes.

Voting was conducted by the nine CCC women's basketball head coaches last week.

Salve Regina head coach Cori Hughes returns a senior cast of Lauryn Becker (Hanover, Mass.), Torie Scorpio (Cranston, R.I.), and Olivia Valerio (Proctor, Vt.), who will serve as captains for the 2019-20 campaign. Only three others have playing experience for the Seahawks – juniors Mary Rorke (Norton, Mass.) and Brooke Vonasek (Wilmington, Conn.) and sophomore Dani Oddo (Cross River, N.Y.).

Scorpio, a three-year All-CCC performer, enters her final season with 919 career points and the sixth-highest scoring average (12.3 points per game) for any Seahawk in the history of the program. She welcomes a pair of six-footers to the Seahawk frontcourt – 6-foot-1 sophomore Noelle Mancini (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.), who missed all last year with an injury, and 6-foot-2 freshman Megan Henaghan (Whitman, Mass.).

Hughes expects several newcomers to see significant playing time including sophomore guard (transfer from RIT) Madi Kalkstein (Farmington, Conn.).

WNE went 11-5 in conference play (20-9 overall) last season and went into the CCC Championship Tournament as the No. 3 seed. The Golden Bears defeated No. 6 seed Salve Regina in the quarterfinals and then knocked off No. 2 seed University of New England in the semifinals, ending UNE's run of six straight tournament titles. WNE went on the road for the Championship game and bested No. 1 seed Endicott to earn its first NCAA title berth.

The CCC Tournament Champions fell to Tufts in the NCAA First Round.

Last year's CCC runner-up Gulls took second place in the poll with 70 points and three first place votes. The Gulls posted a 13-3 CCC (18-9 overall) record last year to capture the regular-season title. After earning a bye in the quarterfinal round, Endicott defeated No. 5 seed Curry in the CCC Semifinals to make its first CCC Championship appearance since 2011-12.

UNE ranked third in this year's voting and will try to regroup after seeing a run of six-straight conference titles snapped last year. The Nor'easters received 69 points in the poll and the final two first place votes. Roger Williams and Curry rounded out the top five with 56 and 39 points, respectively.

Gordon (34 points), Salve Regina (33), Nichols (19), and Wentworth (10) made up the lower half of the poll.

Tip off for CCC women's basketball teams is on Friday, Nov. 8 with three teams in non-conference action. The first league contest is on Saturday, Nov. 23 with Wentworth and UNE matching up. The top seven teams in the CCC standings at the end of the regular season will qualify for the 2020 CCC Women's Basketball Championship Tournament. The tournament will begin with three quarterfinal matchups on Tuesday, Feb. 26 with the No. 1 seed receiving a bye. The top seed and quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinals on Thursday, Feb. 27. The semifinal winners with compete for the CCC Tournament crown on Saturday, Feb. 29 with the champion earning the conference's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship Tournament.

Click HERE to view the whole 2019-20 CCC women's basketball schedule.