Pre-season polls rank Warriors 4th and 9th overall

October 17, 2007

Senior Jessica Steigleman and junior Wade Douglas will look to lead Corban's teams this season. (Photo courtesy of Corban Sports Information)

PORTLAND, Ore. – When the 2007-08 basketball pre-season polls were released today, Corban's men's and women's basketball teams found themselves ranked 9th and 4th respectively as voted by the Cascade Collegiate Conference coaches.

On the women's side, defending regular season co-champions Eastern Oregon was picked as the pre-season favorite ahead of The College of Idaho by a single point (110-109). Southern Oregon, who made it to the conference post-season tournament quarterfinals last season, was picked 3rd with the Warriors ranking fourth ahead of Oregon Tech. First place votes were handed out to The College of Idaho (6), Eastern Oregon (3), Southern Oregon (1), and Oregon Tech (1).

With head coach Terry Williams returning to the bench after being away for five years due to health reasons, this season could be looked upon as a potential rebuilding year for Corban. With three players back from last season's amazing team that captured both the regular season co-championship and post-season tournament championship, as well as being a NAIA Division II national tournament participant, Williams and his coaching staff hit the recruiting pavement hard and brought in 12 new faces led by NCAA Division I transfer Kailey Bostwick (Medford, Ore.) from Portland State University. Senior all-conference Jessica Steigleman (Eugene, Ore.) leads the core of returnees, along with fellow senior co-captain Mandy Peterson (Portland, Ore.) and sophomore Beth McLam (Fairfield, Idaho).

On the men's side, defending regular season co-champions Warner Pacific was chosen as the pre-season favorite as head coach Bart Valentine returns everyone from last season's team. Eastern Oregon and Oregon Tech tied for second with 105 points each, while The College of Idaho and Northwest round out the top five. Warner Pacific received 10-out-of-11 first place votes with the other vote going to Oregon Tech.

Corban, led by sixth-year head coach Justin Sherwood, was chosen ninth ahead of Cascade and first-year conference member Northwest Christian. With 61.7% of the scoring back from last season's team, Sherwood brought in five new players led by 6-foot-8 freshman Ian Logan (Aloha, Ore.) from Aloha High School. Juniors Wade Douglas (Ontario, Ore.) and Jason Braun (Dallas, Ore.) lead the core of returnees, as Douglas brings back a team-leading 425 points and an average of 16.3 points per game from his all-conference honorable mention campaign last year.

Both basketball seasons tip off over the next two weeks with the men's team playing host to the Bruins of Bethany University on Saturday, October 27th, at 7:30 p.m. and the women's team hosting Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) member Concordia University-Irvine on Saturday, November 3rd, at 2:00 p.m. Both games will take place inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center on the campus of Corban College.

For the complete pre-season basketball polls, visit www.cascadeconference.org and click on the respective sport.