Shaw Women’s Basketball Team Ranked Seventh in D2 Bulletin Preseason Poll

October 14, 2011

[Raleigh, NC] –Following a Final Four season a year ago, the Shaw University women's basketball team is ranked seventh nationally in Division II preseason by the Women's D2 Bulletin. Defending national champion Clayton State, which ended Shaw's season in the national semi-finals last March, tops the rankings.
 
Shaw head women’s basketball coach Jacques Curtis returns four of the five starters from last year's squad, but will have to find a replacement for starting forward Demaria Liles. Heading the list of returnees are a quartet of senior guards, Allyssa Lane (4-11, Winter Park, FL) , Brittany Spencer (5-6, Norfolk, VA), Victoria Tanner (5-10, Raleigh, NC) and Brittany Ransom (5-9, Columbus, OH).
 
Curtis will have one of the premier post players in the country on his roster in returning forward Aslea Williams (6-0, Akron, OH).  The team will also return small forward Kyria Buford (6-1, Charlotte, NC).  The other members of the 2011-2012 squad include returning guard Shemieka Brown (5-8, Salisbury, NC) and newcomers Crystal Harris (6-1, Jersey City, NJ) and freshman Jashaye Magnum (6-1, Miami, FL).
 
Curtis says he hopes to call upon a quartet of new players to bring home a National Championship:  elite guard Sequoyah Griffin (5-9, Columbus, GA), Enonga Stovall (5-11, Philadelphia, PA), Aerial Hatcher (5-10, Monroe, MI) and Isayra Diaz (5-6, New York, NY).
 
“I feel that with the Final Four experience our returners got last season and the blend of new talent, we are poised for another run at a National Championship,” Curtis said.
 
Last season, the Lady Bears were 25-12 overall, 10-7 in the CIAA.  After winning the CIAA Tournament, Shaw went to the NCAA Tournament where they won the East Regional and then captured the program’s first victory in the Elite Eight.
 
The Lady Bears open play this season on November 26, when they travel to Belmont Abbey for a 3:00 p.m. tipoff.  Shaw does not play its first home game until Saturday, January 7 when they take on Virginia State in the annual Vivian Sansom Tipoff Classic.  Tip for that game is 2:00 p.m.