Lebanon's Elie named preseason All-Sun Belt

MTSU Athletics

NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Middle Tennessee women's basketball program was picked to win the Sun Belt East Division and three Blue Raiders earned preseason accolades, as announced by the league office on Tuesday.

Former Lebanon High star Icelyn Elie, Kortni Jones and Ebony Rowe earned first team preseason All-Sun Belt distinction.

Elie was an All-Sun Belt Second Team and All-Sun Belt Tournament Team selection a year ago. The forward returns from a junior campaign that saw her collect nine double-doubles. She ranked second on the squad with eight rebounds per game and third in scoring with 13.7 points per game. She ranked 48th nationally last season with a 48.9 field goal percentage.

Jones garnered a preseason accolade after being selected first team All-Sun Belt and All-Tournament team. The Oak Ridge-native set single season school and conference records for 3-pointers made (115) and attempted (329). Jones was second nationally and tied for 10th on the all-time single season NCAA chart for triples made. Last season, Jones averaged a team-best 16.8 points per game, while dishing out a team-high 153 assists.

After two strong seasons, Rowe returns with expectations high in 2012-13. The junior forward became the 26th Blue Raider to eclipse 1,000 points at Middle Tennessee. She moved to 22nd on the list with 1,069 points and amassed the most points by any player in program history through her sophomore campaign. Rowe averaged a double-double in 2011-12 by tallying 16.3 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. She finished with 31 games in double figures and registered 16 double-doubles

The Lady Raiders earned 10 out of 11 possible first place votes for 65 points and predicted to place first in the Eastern division. FIU earned one first place vote to garner second place. South Alabama (45), Florida Atlantic (29), Western Kentucky (26) and Troy (12) rounded out the East division predictions.

"Icelyn, Ebony and Kortni have been coaches on the floor in this early part of our practices," Coach Rick Insell said. "We're running a press set and I'll look on the other end and Ebony has one of our newer kids down there explaining why's she's done this and this is what you need to do. It's like having another coach on the staff."