Media panel picks South Carolina to win SEC women's title

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) South Carolina is projected to win the Southeastern Conference women's basketball championship, according to a media panel's preseason poll.

The panel also named Texas A&M guard Chennedy Carter as the SEC's preseason player of the year. Carter received 14 of the 17 votes. Kentucky's Rhyne Howard received two votes and Arkansas' Chelsea Dungee got one vote.

South Carolina returns two starters from a team that went 23-10 and reached an NCAA regional semifinal last year. The preseason poll had South Carolina followed in order by Texas A&M, defending champion Mississippi State, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Auburn, LSU, Missouri, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Vanderbilt.

LSU's Ayana Mitchell and South Carolina's Tyasha Harris joined Carter, Howard and Dungee as preseason first-team all-conference selections. Preseason second-team picks included Auburn's Unique Thompson, South Carolina's Mikiah Herbert Harrigan, Tennessee's Rennia Davis, Texas A&M's Ciera Johnson and Vanderbilt's Mariella Fasoula.