LA MIRADA, Calif. --- The PacWest conference office released the Women's Basketball Preseason Poll on Tuesday, just 10 days before the start of the Biola Eagles' 2018-19 season.

After completing a very strong second half of the season and registering multiple wins against teams appearing in this year's West Region Poll, Head Coach Alan Nakamura's team was ranked sixth of 12 teams in the PacWest preseason poll.

Although the Eagles are ineligible for the PacWest Conference Tournament for one final year, a sixth-place finish would qualify them for conference postseason play in a PacWest that is now  without California Baptist and Dixie State after those teams concluded their conference membership this past spring.

The Eagles received 74 points in the voting while Azusa Pacific was tabbed as the conference favorite with 139 points and eight first-place votes after going 18-2 in PacWest a year ago. Hawaii Pacific was second with 128 points and Dominican third with 112 points and a single first-place vote.

"The PacWest is still really well-balanced from top to bottom. As we demonstrated last year, anyone can beat anyone on any given night, so it's gonna be another really difficult year," said Nakamura. "I think Azusa Pacific had a great season last year and has good players back. And Hawaii Pacific also has a lot of really skilled, talented players coming back too. Dominican is on the rise and they have the preseason player of the year [Natalie Diaz]. It's gonna be an exciting challenge for us."

Biola recorded 12 of its 14 wins after Christmas a year ago, finishing 11-9 in PacWest play with series sweeps over Concordia, Dixie State, Holy Names and Point Loma. Point Loma went on to beat Azusa Pacific and reach the PacWest Tournament Finals a year ago while Concordia is receiving votes in this year's West Region Poll.

Northwest Nazarene of the GNAC, who Biola defeated 67-64 on Nov. 16 last season, is tied for first in the West Region Preseason Poll. That's one spot ahead of APU, who is the PacWest's top-ranked team nationally at No. 20.

"In a lot of ways we're going to be starting anew this year. We've graduated some student-athletes who have been key players for us the last three seasons. And now it's an opportunity for the other players to step up after helping in us supporting roles before," said Nakamura. "So we're paying less attention to the preseason ranking because we're more excited to see how we're going to come together and face the challenge of the season."

On top of the Eagles' priority list this year, is making up for the scoring of graduated guard DeMoria White, who earned All-PacWest honors last season after averaging 19 points per game. White and three other student-athletes who completed their time with the Eagles last season will be replaced by five new addition to Biola's roster that includes four freshman and a junior transfer in Jelissa Puckett.

Along with Puckett, Biola will look to new guards Danita Estorga, Aysia Johnson and Abigail Laberge to all inject scoring-potential into the guard position while Florida native Haley Gantt increases Biola's size and energy on the block.

Hopefully, Gantt's addition will also allow free up Jazz Benn to use her athleticism to shoot and handle more from the perimeter and increase her scoring numbers from 9.2 points per game a year ago.

"We're always emphasizing character, unity and 'what can we give,' and this team exemplifies those things this year. They're humble, coachable and really pull for each other," said Nakamura. "The new players have added a lot of energy and some size. They've really enhanced the culture of the program and they're already helping to bring the best out of our returners. Additionally, the returning talent has improved and gotten stronger. They understand the system better and they're helping the new players buy in and get with the program very quickly."

The Eagles will play an exhibition against San Diego State on Friday evening before starting the season in earnest at the PacWest/CCAA Challenge the following weekend. Biola will match up with Cal State LA on Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. and Cal State Dominguez Hills on Nov. 10 at 6 p.m.