Shaw Vaults Into 12th In Final USA Today ESPN Division II Poll

Shaw Vaults Into 12th In Final USA Today ESPN Division II Poll

March 29, 2011 

(Raleigh, NC) - The Shaw University women's basketball team has vaulted into 12th place in the final USA Today ESPN Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll.  

The Lady Bears had been unranked in the previous poll, which had been released before NCAA Tournament play.  Shaw went to the Division II Women's Basketball Final Four, and was knocked out of the tournament by the eventual champions, Clayton State.

Shaw is the only unranked team to move into the final poll and is the only team with double-digit losses.  The Lady Bears have not been ranked all season.

The Lady Bears finished their season 25-12 and the champions of both the CIAA Tournament and the NCAA Atlantic Region Tournament.  Their trip to the Final Four was the first for a women's team at Shaw.

National champion Clayton State took the top spot in the poll, with Michigan Tech - the national runner-up - in second.   Metro State, who Shaw defeated in the Elite Eight, was ranked fifth in the nation.  CIAA rival Johnson C. Smith finished the season in 22nd.