The University of Vermont women’s basketball team was picked to finish third in the America East Preseason Coaches’ Poll and senior Aaron Yantzi (Waterloo, Ontario) earned America East Preseason All-Conference Team for the first time in her career. The Catamounts, who haven’t been picked lower than fourth in the last seven years, garnered 63 points overall. Defending regular season champion Maine was the top vote getter with 81 points and nine first-place votes. Defending tournament champion Boston University was second with 73 points and earned one first-place vote. “I like where we were picked,” said head coach Sharon Dawley. “We’ve got a lot of work to do this year, but it’s good to have something to work towards. Being picked third gives us an extra incentive and more motivation to get better every day and achieve our goal of winning a championship. As the league tournament has shown it all comes down to how well you are playing in March, not where you stand in the polls in November,” stated Dawley. Yantzi, a 6-1 forward, has earned second-team honors in each of the past two seasons and was a member of the all-rookie team as a freshman. Last season she averaged 15.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game and is the leading returning scorer for Vermont.-Athletic Communications