Lady Dawgs 13th In Preseason AP Poll

BASKETBALL

The Georgia Lady Dawgs are No. 13 in the initial edition of the Associated Press top-25 women's basketball poll, which was released on Saturday.

Georgia compiled 432 points in balloting of 40 national media members, with 25 points awarded for a first-place vote descending through one point for a No. 25 vote. Baylor was the overwhelming No. 1, receiving 33 first-place votes.

The Lady Dawgs will play six games against top-25 teams. Georgia will face No. 3 Tennessee twice, No. 10 Georgetown, No. 18 Kentucky, No. 21 LSU and No. 23 Southern Cal. Four other opponents also received votes, Gonzaga, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt and Florida.

The Lady Dawgs have now been ranked by the AP to open 30 of the past 31 seasons, including 20 top-10 appearances. All told, Georgia has appeared in 461 editions of the rankings, the second-most of any women's basketball program in the nation.

Georgia's Lady Dawgs were predicted to finish second in the Southeastern Conference this season and junior Jasmine James was tabbed first-team preseason All-SEC in balloting of selected national and league media members.

Team predictions were compiled by awarding 12 points for a first-place vote descending to one point for a 12th-place ballot. Georgia accumulated 228 points and was picked to finish behind Tennessee, which garnered 264 points. Rounding out the league standings were Kentucky (212 points), LSU (189), Vanderbilt (172), Florida (151), Arkansas (142), South Carolina (107), Auburn (94), Alabama (55), Mississippi State (54) and Ole Miss (48).

James, a junior from Memphis, Tenn., led the Lady Dawgs in scoring, assists, assist-to-turnover ratio, steals and minutes played a year ago. She was joined on the first team by A'dia Mathies of Kentucky, LaSondra Barrett of LSU and Glory Johnson and Shekinna Stricklen of Tennessee.

Georgia unofficially opens the season on Tuesday when the Lady Dawgs host West Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum at 7 p.m. Georgia begins regular-season competition on Friday, Nov. 11 when it takes on TCU in Athens at 6 p.m., the first half of a doubleheader which also features the Georgia against Wofford.