“It's a great compliment to be picked first in the East Division this year, but there is no doubt we have our work cut out for us,” said Lady Topper head coach Mary Taylor Cowles. “We are just trying to come in at practice every day and improve on our weaknesses and continue to build on our strengths. I'm not as concerned about where we are picked right now, I'm just looking forward to seeing where this basketball team can finish in March.”
Both Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, who met in the Sun Belt Tournament championship game last season, took five of the league's 11 first-place votes. Florida International taking the top spot in the East Division on one ballot. Overall, Western captured 49 points, just ahead of MTSU's 46. FIU was picked third in the east with 36 points, followed by Arkansas State (23) and Arkansas-Little Rock (11). Out west, 2003 co-divisional champions New Mexico State and South Alabama took the top two spots, gathering 56 and 54 points, respectively.
WKU and MTSU were the only schools to put multiple players on the preseason all-conference team, with junior guard Patrice Holmes and sophomore forward Tia Stovall representing the Lady Raiders. New Mexico State's senior guard Sinnamonn Garrett was tabbed as the league's preseason player of the year.
Logsdon led the Sun Belt in scoring last season, averaging 17.5 points per game. She also finished an all-conference season ranked third in the league in three-point percentage (.410), fourth in field-goal percentage (.430) and eighth in free throw percentage (.699). Her 4.45 assists per contest ranked third in the conference. Logsdon was key in WKU's 86-83 win over MTSU in the Sun Belt Tournament championship game, equaling the SBC Tournament record with 32 points. She scored 30 of those points in the first half, knocking down eight threes to break a WKU and Sun Belt Tournament record for threes in a game. Having already scored 908 points in two seasons on the Hill, Logsdon became the third fastest player in Lady Topper history to reach 900 career points. Only Leslie Johnson and WKU's all-time leading scorer Lilly Mason got there faster.
Porter-Talbert made an immediate impact on the Lady Topper program during her freshman season, starting 30 of 31 games and ranking third on the team in both scoring (12.4 ppg) and rebounding (7.7 rpg). She led all Sun Belt freshmen in points, rebounds and assists (3.97 apg), earning the league's Freshman-of-the-Year award. Se went on to average 10.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and 4.3 assist during the Sun Belt Tournament on her way to an all-tournament team selection.
“Both of these young ladies continue to improve themselves, and are very deserving of this honor,” added Cowles. “With Tiffany only being a sophomore, it is exciting to see the passion she has to be a great college player. Everybody in the league found out last year what a great shooter Leslie is. She has worked very hard during the summer to strengthen the rest of her game, and be a leader on the court this year.”
After a pair of exhibition games on Nov. 2 and Nov. 8, Western opens the 2003-04 campaign at home against Rhode Island on Nov. 14 in the first round of the preseason WNIT.
