2016-17 Big West Preseason Polls & All-Conference Teams

DAVIS, Calif. -- The UC Davis women's basketball team received high praise from the coaches and media, picked to finish second by the Big West Conference head coaches and fourth by the media during the 2016-17 according to the league's preseason polls released on Tuesday afternoon.

The runner-up in last year's Big West Tournament, the Aggies received 61 points from the coaches to finish behind only Long Beach State, which received five of the nine first-place votes and 73 points overall. In the media poll, UC Davis received one first-place vote and garnered 113 points overall to place behind the 49ers (nine first-place nods, 157 points), UC Riverside, and Hawai'i -- all of which reached the semifinals of last year's conference tournament.

Overall, the Aggies return seven letter winners are three starters off of last season's squad that finished 19-13 overall and 10-6 in Big West play en route to their championship game appearance. The group is led by preseason all-conference selection Morgan Bertsch, who led the team in scoring at 13.9 ppg and ranked among the top-10 shooters in the nation with a .582 field goal percentage.

The All-Big West second team, Big West All-Freshman Team, and Big West All-Tournament Team selection, will be joined by a talented core of upperclassmen that includes junior all-conference selection Pele Gianotti (11.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg), junior point guard Dani Nafekh (5.4 ppg, 4.1 apg), and junior sharpshooter Rachel Nagel (8.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg).

Bertsch was joined on the six-woman preseason all-conference team by Long Beach State's Raven Benton, CSUN's Channon Fluker, Cal Poly's Hannah Gilbert and Dynn Leaupepe, and UC Riverside's Rejane Verin -- all of whom were listed on both the coach's and media's preseason teams.

UC Davis opens its 2016-17 campaign on Saturday (Oct. 29) at 2 p.m., welcoming Oregon Tech to The Pavilion for an exhibition. Admission is free to the event. The Aggies officially tip-off the regular season on Nov. 11 at home against Portland at 7 p.m.

Season and single-game tickets for women's basketball are now available. Reserve your seats online at UCDavisAggies.com, visiting the Athletics Ticket Office at Aggie Stadium, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., or by calling (530) 752-AGS1 (2471).

BIG WEST CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLLS
Coaches Poll
1. Long Beach State (5) - 73
2. UC DAVIS - 61
3. UC Riverside (1) - 56
4. UC Santa Barbara (1) - 52
5. Hawai'i (1) - 48
6. CSUN (1) - 46
7. Cal Poly - 42
8. UC Irvine - 17
9. Cal State Fullerton - 10

Media Poll
1. Long Beach State (9) - 157
2. UC Riverside (7) - 154
3. Hawai'i (3) - 127
4. UC DAVIS (1) - 113
5. CSUN - 103
6. Cal Poly - 97
7. UC Santa Barbara - 89
8. UC Irvine - 34
9. Cal State Fullerton - 26

( ) - denotes first-place votes

BIG WEST PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Raven Benton (Jr., Guard) - Long Beach State
Morgan Bertsch (RSo., Forward) - UC Davis
Channon Fluker (So, Center) - CSUN
Hannah Gilbert (Jr., Forward) - Cal Poly
Dynn Leaupepe (Jr., Guard) - Cal Poly
Rejane Verin (Sr., Forward) - UC Riverside