SELINSGROVE, Pa. – The Susquehanna University women’s basketball team has been picked to finish seventh in the Commonwealth Conference during the 2002-03 season, as voted on by the conference’s eight head coaches.

The Crusaders, under first-year head coach Liz Cranmer Briggs, return four starters to a squad that finished seventh in the league in 2001-02 with a 3-11 Commonwealth record and 9-15 overall.

Lebanon Valley, which finished 23-5 and won the conference regular-season championship last season, earned five first-place votes to take the top spot in the poll. Defending playoff champion Messiah captured two first-place votes and placed second, while Moravian earned the other first-place vote and finished third. Widener, Elizabethtown, Juniata, Susquehanna and Albright rounded out the poll.

The Crusaders open the 2002-03 season at Houts Gymnasium on Saturday, November 23 at 8 p.m. against Kings Point in the first round of the Pepsi/Weis Markets Tip Off Tournament.