BURNSVILLE, Minn. - The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference released the 2017-18 Preseason Women's Basketball Coaches' Poll Wednesday and the Peacocks have been picked to finish 15th in the league overall, and 8th in the NSIC South division. Minnesota State University Moorhead was selected by the league coaches as the overall and north division preseason favorite in the NSIC. The Dragons received 10 first place votes and amassed 213 points, to edge Northern State by four points. The Wolves received four first place votes, while Augustana garnered two first place votes and 200 points to rank third. Wayne State was fourth (182) while Winona State (152) was fifth. Augustana edged Wayne State in the south standing by three points while MSU Moorhead was the pick in the north with 47 points, two points ahead of Northern State.

The 2017-18 regular season champion will be based on the 22-game NSIC schedule. Each team will play teams in their division twice (14) and teams in the other division once (8). An NSIC North and South Division Champion will also be awarded. Divisional standings will also be based on all 22 NSIC contests played. In the case of a tie, co-champions will be awarded. The 16-team NSIC/Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Championships are set to take place Sat.-Tues., Feb. 24-27 at the Sanford Health Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. First round games will be played on the campus of the top eight seeds on Wednesday, Feb. 21.

MSU Moorhead's Drew Sannes was selected as the NSIC North Division Pre-Season Player of the Year, while Wayne State's Paige Ballinger earned South Division Pre-Season Player of the Year honors for the second consecutive season.

Junior Blair Klostermann was named as UIU's NSIC Player to Watch heading into her second year as a Peacock. Klostermann earned an All-NSIC First Team selection last season after scoring 19.1 points per conference game finishing highest among all NSIC scorers. The Dyersville, Iowa product scored 382 points for the Peacocks while playing in and starting 20 of the 22 conference games; her first season at Upper Iowa ended due to an injury at home in the team's upset win over Concordia University, St. Paul. UIU's star guard shot 39.9% from the floor including 36.7% from three and 84.8% of her free throws. Klostermann added 5.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.1 steals per conference game as well. Klostermann scored a career-high 34 points at home against Wayne State College and netted 30 points in a road win at Southwest Minnesota State University.

In addition to Klostermann, the Peacocks will return senior Ashley Ray, juniors Haley Martin and Ashley Rosenstiel, as well as sophomore Bekka Pierson to the court for the 2017-18 season. A wealth of newcomers are also poised to take their place on the court for Upper Iowa including five freshman, three transfers and a player that transferred to UIU prior to last season, but had to redshirt due to injury. Micha Thompson enters her second year with the program after having served as an assistant coach with the basketball program at Utah State University, a NCAA Division I member of the Mountain West Conference in Logan, Utah for the previous four years.

Upper Iowa will kick off its season at home as they host the MIAA/NSIC Tournament with games against Fort Hays State and Missouri Western State on Nov. 10 and 11. The Peacocks women's basketball full schedule can be found here.
 

Overall	Points		North Division	Points
1. MSU Moorhead (10)	213		1. MSU Moorhead (5)	47
2. Northern State (4)	209		2. Northern State (3)	45
3. Augustana (2)	200		3. University of Mary	34
4. Wayne State	182		4. Minnesota Duluth	32
5. Winona State	152		5. St. Cloud State	26
6. Concordia-St. Paul	140		6. Bemidji State	15
7. Minnesota State	132		7. Minnesota Crookston	13
8. Minnesota Duluth	126		8. Minot State	12
9. University of Mary	125		South Division	Points
10. Sioux Falls	123		1. Augustana (5)	47
11. St. Cloud State	91		2. Wayne State (3)	44
12. Southwest Minnesota State	58		3. Winona State	33
13. Minnesota Crookston	51		4. Concordia-St. Paul	29
14. Bemidji State	43		Minnesota State	29
15. Upper Iowa	39		6. Sioux Falls	20
16. Minot State	36		7. Southwest Minnesota State	14
first place votes in ( )			8. Upper Iowa	8

NSIC NORTH PRE-SEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
#42 Drew Sannes (F, 6-3, Sr., Hawley, Minn./  Hawley HS)
Minnesota State University Moorehad
- 2016-17 NSIC Player of the Year
- Named WBCA All-American honorable mention
- Named D2 Bulletin All-American honorable mention.
- First-Team All-NSIC
- Led MSUM to first NCAA tournament since 2009 and first NSIC title since 2004-05
- Led Dragons in scoring (15.3) and rebounds (8.3)
- Closing in on all-time record for blocks at MSUM

NSIC SOUTH PRE-SEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
#52 Paige Ballinger (F, 6-1, Sr., Pender, Neb. / Pender HS)
Wayne State College
- Earned First Team All-NSIC honors for second straight season
- Averaged 14.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game last season
- Led NSIC in blocked shots, ranked eighth in field goal percentage (.498) and 10th in scoring
- Scored double figures in 24 games, including last 12 in a row
- Recorded eight games of 20 or more points with six coming in the final 12 games
- Named NSIC South Division Preseason Player of the Year for second consecutive season