Bombers and Cardinals Ranked In D3hoops.com Preseason Poll
The St. John Fisher College and Ithaca College women's basketball programs are among teams receiving votes in the 2015-2016
D3hoops.com National Preseason Poll.
Fisher is looking to continue its momentum from a successful 2014-15 season where it went 22-7 overall, and 12-4 in the Empire 8 Conference.
The Cardinals carried their season all the way to the second round of the NCAA Division III Championship, when it ultimately suffered 72-67 loss in overtime loss Tufts University in the Championship's Second Round.
Fisher won the 2014-15 Empire 8 Championship title after defeating Ithaca College 86-84 in overtime in the finals.
Senior
Mary Kate Cusack is Fisher's top returner. The shooting guard led her team in scoring (17.4 points per game), steals (92; 3.2 per game) and assists (72; 2.5 per game) last winter, while scoring in double digits in all but two games.
Fisher will begin competition on Saturday at noon against New Jersey City University in the first of two games at the Rutgers-Newark University Invitational.
Ithaca went 23-6 last winter and reached the second round of the NCAA Division III Championship as an at-large participant.
Junior
Ali Ricchiuti paced the Ithaca offense with 11.1 points per game in 27 starts as she was the only player to average double figures in scoring. She shot 40.3-percent from the field and 37.4-percent from three-point range.
Ithaca opens its season at nationally-ranked No. 12 Montclair State on Nov. 15 at 2 p.m.