Grizzly women picked first in RMAC, Bustos earns top preseason honors

Adams State received six first-place votes in the RMC preseason coaches poll

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Senior guard Vera Jo Bustos (Las Vegas, N.M.) was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Women's Basketball Preseason Player of the Year and the Grizzlies, coming off the program's first trip to the NCAA Division II National Tournament, were picked to win the league according to the 2010-11 preseason coaches' poll released by conference officials on Monday.  The No. 1 prediction is the Grizzlies' first since the conference starting conducting a preseason poll in 2002.

In the team poll, the Grizzlies received six first-place votes and garnered 25 total points in the balloting where each of the league's 14 head coaches ranked the teams in order of predicted finish without voting for their own team.

Fort Lewis, which advanced to the NCAA Division II National Championship game in 2010, also received six first-place votes, but totaled 29 points while being picked second in the league.

Colorado Mines (48 points) and Colorado State-Pueblo (50), were picked third and fourth, and each received one first-place vote.

Coming in at fifth in the preseason poll was Colorado Christian with 66 points, followed by Metro State (70), Nebraska-Kearney (95), Western State (98) and Mesa State (109) and Chadron State (112) to round out the top 10 spots in.

Western New Mexico received 114 points, followed by Regis with 140, New Mexico Highlands with 149 and UC-Colorado Springs with 163 to round out the RMAC preseason poll.

The Grizzlies are coming off a record-setting 2009-10 campaign in which they set an NCAA Division II era record of 21 wins and advanced to the NCAA Division II National Tournament for the first time in program history.

Adams State finished the 2009-10 season with an overall record of 21-8, and compiled a 14-5 mark in RMAC play, and advanced to the league tournament quarterfinals before falling to CSU-Pueblo. 

Four of five starters from last season return for the Grizzlies, as well as eight letterwinners.

Bustos, no stranger to taking RMAC accolades, was joined on the RMAC Preseason All-Conference Team by senior Kendra Coveal (Albuquerque, N.M.).

Before garnering preseason Player of the Year honors, Bustos was a first team All-RMAC selection as a sophomore and junior, was named the RMAC West Division Player of the Year for the 2008-09 season, and was the league's Freshman of the Year in 2007-08. Bustos has averaged 15.6 points and 5.7 points per game during her career, and is just 97 points away from becoming the Grizzlies all-time leading points scorer in the Division II era (since 1992).  She is also a returning Women's Basketball Coaches Association Honorable Mention All-American.

Coveal, a guard/forward, was second among Grizzlies in scoring during the 2009-10 season, averaging 11.9 points per game, and led the team with 7.7 rebounds per game, earning her Second Team All-RMAC West accolades. A three-year starter for ASC, Coveal has played in 85 games while making 64 starts.

The Grizzlies will be in action in an exhibition game against Weber State in Ogden, Utah, next Monday (Nov. 8_. They'll then open their season with a long road trip to Hawai'i, facing Hawai'i Pacific on Saturday, Nov. 13 and Chaminade on Sunday, Nov. 14, both in Honolulu. 

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