ELMHURST, Ill. -- The Summit League has announced that the IUPUI women’s basketball team was selected to finish sixth in the upcoming 2009-10 season in voting of the league’s media, coaches and sports information directors.  For the second straight season, senior Julia Whitted was selected to the Preseason First Team.

IUPUI, which finished fourth in The Summit League a year ago, returns two starters from the 2008-09 squad, including Whitted, who averaged 13.2 points per game to go along with 8.4 rebounds.  In conference play, the 6-foot-5 center upped her play, posting 14.2 points and 9.3 boards in 18 games. 

The senior became the 19th IUPUI women’s basketball player to go over the 1,000-point plateau in her final game of the 2008-09 season and has 1,004 points in her career.  Overall, the first team selection was the fourth straight for Whitted, who earned the honors at the end of her sophomore year and was on both preseason and postseason first teams last year.

The Jaguars will welcome nine newcomers to the 2009-10 team, led by transfer Jessica Huffman, who earned Ohio Valley Freshman of the Year honors in 2006-07 but sat out the 2008-09 season after transferring to IUPUI.  Gretchen Gaskin will be counted on to run the point for the Jaguars after spending the previous two seasons at Seton Hall and Mineral Area CC, respectively.

South Dakota State, who advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament a year ago, was picked to finish first The Summit League by receiving 25 of a possible 27 first-place ballots to total 419 points.

Oakland, the runner-up in the conference tournament last March, earned a first-place vote and 365 points in finishing second, while North Dakota State was third with 318 points.

Oral Roberts received the final first-place vote to earn 289 points and place fourth; in fifth, IPFW was immediately ahead of the Jaguars, narrowly ahead with 214 points to IUPUI’s 212.

UMKC was seventh with 196 points but had The Summit’s Preseason Player of the Year in Chazny Morris.  Western Illinois, Southern Utah and Centenary rounded out the poll with 160, 119 and 48 points, respectively.

Joining Morris and Whitted on the first team were Inger Hodgson of NDSU, Chelsey Jackson from IPFW, Oakland’s Melissa Jeltema, and Janae Voelker from Oral Roberts.   

The Summit League Tournament will be March 6-9, in Sioux Falls, S.D..

IUPUI will open their 2009-10 campaign with an exhibition versus Kentucky State on November 2, with a 5 p.m. tip from Conseco Fieldhouse.  The Jaguars will open the regular season at Akron on Friday, Nov. 13 and will head to Bloomington, Ind., two days later to take on Indiana at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 15.