ORU's Kevi Luper is named to second team on Southland preseason list
BY JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
10/24/12 at 7:26 PM
Kevi Luper was a three-time player of the year in Oral Roberts University’s former conference, the Summit League.
Luper was not a first-team selection when ORU’s new league -- the Southland Conference -- announced its preseason women’s basketball team Wednesday. The senior from Adair -- and the Golden Eagles’ all-time leading scorer -- was voted onto the second team.
Second team? Other factors besides Luper’s resume were considered.
Per the Southland’s selection formula, spots on the preseason team are reserved for players who earned postseason all-conference honors the previous season. Seven incumbents returned, leaving only three second-team spots for anyone who wasn’t all-conference last season. And Luper snared one of those spots. She’ll have an opportunity to earn first-team honors during the course of the season.
The Southland also released its preseason women’s basketball polls -- one chosen by league sports information directors and one picked by league coaches.
Two-time defending Southland Conference Tournament champion McNeese State, which returns its top two scorers, was picked atop both polls. ORU was selected third in one poll and fourth in the other.
Luper is a two-time Associated Press honorable mention All-American and was a 2011-12 Naismith Trophy Watch List honoree.
She is the only player in NCAA Division I history to lead the nation in points and steals in a season, and she enters her final season with 2,277 career points, second only to Baylor’s Brittney Griner among active players.
Central Arkansas’ Megan Herbert, a two-time SLC Player of the Year, headlined the league’s preseason first team.
Associated Images:
Kevi Luper is a three-time Summit League player of the year. MICHAEL WYKE/Tulsa World
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