The University of Missouri-Rolla women's basketball team was picked to finish in fourth place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference's West Division in the pre-season coaches poll released today.

UMR, which finished 17-11 overall and 10-9 in the GLVC in its first season as a member of the conference last year, went on to reach the semifinals of the conference tournament where it lost to Drury after posting an opening round win over Lewis.

Drury was picked to repeat as the GLVC West champion and was followed in the pre-season rankings by Quincy and Southern Illinois Edwardsville, who missed the playoffs last year; all three of those schools got at least one first place vote. UMR landed in fourth behind SIUE with 19 points, followed by Southern Indiana, Missouri-St. Louis and Rockhurst.

Defending tournament champion Northern Kentucky was tabbed as the favorite in the GLVC East, with Bellarmine, Lewis and Kentucky Wesleyan picked in the next three spots. The East Division was rounded out with Indianapolis in fifth, Saint Joseph's in sixth and Wisconsin-Parkside in last.

UMR will open practice Sunday evening for the 2006-07 season, which will get underway with an exhibition game Nov. 10 against Gold Star at the Bullman Multi-Purpose Building. The regular season opener for the Lady Miners is set for Nov. 17 at home against Wayne State (Mich.).