America East women's basketball coaches poll has UAlbany No. 1

PHOTOGRAPHER: Peter R. Barber

The UAlbany women's basketball team was picked to win the America East Conference title in the league's coaches poll Wednesday.

University at Albany head women’s basketball coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson would rather not be picked No. 1 in any preseason poll.

Finishing on top at the end of the season is much better.

The four-time defending America East Conference champions were picked first again in Wednesday’s annual coaches’ preseason poll. The Great Danes earned six out of nine first-place votes and picked up 62 points. The league coaches could not vote for their own team. This is the fourth consecutive year that UAlbany has been picked to finish first.

UAlbany is trying to become the first America East team to win five consecutive titles. The Great Danes were 24-9 overall a year ago and 14-2 in the conference. They earned a 13-seed in the NCAA tournament and pushed fourth-seeded Duke to the brink before dropping a 54-52 decision.

“Obviously, the reason we were picked No. 1 is that we still have Shereesha [Richards] and Imani [Tate],” Abrahamson-Henderson said of her top-two players. Richards, the 2014-15 America East Player of the Year, and Tate, the reigning Sixth Player of the Year, were both chosen to the All-Conference first team.

“Really, with Shereesha, no matter what team you put her on, she will make a difference,” she said. “I will say that most of the time, with the coaches’ vote, it’s the truest test, but remember, this is preseason. In my opinion, there are some teams and some players that should be in different spots on that poll.”

Richards was an Associated Press All-America last year and led the conference in scoring (21 points per game) and rebounding (8.8 pg). She shot 58.3 percent from the floor.

Richards, a 6-foot-1 senior from Rae Town, Jamaica, is already the Great Danes’ all-time leading scorer with 1,668 points. She also owns the program’s single-season scoring record with 694 points and became the first-ever UAlbany player to be named to the Naismith Trophy 50 Watch List.

Tate, a 5-8 junior guard from Bishop Loughlin in the Bronx, averaged 14.2 points and 6.1 rebounds a year ago. She also made 49.5 percent of her shots from the floor and 78.3 percent from the line.

The Great Danes also return center Tiana-Jo Carter, a member of the America East All-Rookie team last year, and Zakiya Saunders, who averaged 7.7 points and totaled 122 assists as a sophomore.

“Being chosen No. 1 is great for our community, and it’s great for our program,” Abrahamson-Henderson said. “But in a way, I think it’s dangling candy to our freshmen and to our newcomers. They have no idea how hard they have to work in order to win a championship. Our older players do.”

After being told by women’s sports information director David Vatz about being chosen No. 1 in the poll, the coach went to the gym and asked her players if they knew the news.

“I was surprised, but they hadn’t heard a thing,” she said. “That’s good. So then, I asked the upperclassmen specifically what it means, and they just said it’s a target on their backs. That means that they have to work harder. Nothing will be given to them. They know everybody is gunning for us.”

Joining Richards and Tate on the preseason All-Conference team are Sigi Koizar and Liz Wood of Maine and Elizabeth Belanger of New Hampshire.

Maine collected two first-place votes in the poll and finished second with 58 points. New Hampshire got the other first-place vote and received 44 points.

The Great Danes open the season at home in SEFCU Arena against Pepperdine Nov. 15.