ROME, Ga. – The Salem basketball team was selected eighth in the 2023-24 USA South Conference Preseason Polls, which were announced in a release from the league office on Tuesday, October 24th. Meanwhile, N.C. Wesleyan was billed as the top team in the polls, which were conducted by the league's head coaches.

Sharee' Boyd, who enters her second year at the helm of the Salem basketball program, returns five players from a 2022-23 squad that finished with six victories, three of which came by virtue of forfeits.

The five returnees include sophomore Christina Ballastini, along with seniors Alize Munn, Natasha Guo, Cree Bass and Dionne Sampson. Sampson will look to provide the same firepower to the Spirits' offense as she did a season ago, when she led all Salem players in scoring with 306 points (13.3 ppg), after hitting 97-of-231 from the floor. Sampson heads into her final year of eligibility with 675 points (7th-most all-time), 231 field goals (9th-most all-time) and 222 rebounds. She is one of just five players in program history to score 600 points, grab 200 rebounds, hand out 100 assists and force 100 steals.

N.C. Wesleyan was placed atop the rankings thanks to receiving 76 total points and five of the possible ten first place votes. The Battling Bishops posted a 14-4 regular season League record last season to place second before falling in the Conference tournament title game. The 14 USA South wins tied the most since the 2019-20 season. Brevard placed second in the preseason poll with 71 points and two first place votes while Southern Virginia rounded-out the top-three with 64 points and two first place votes of its own. The final first place vote went to defending USA South regular season and tournament champion Greensboro, who sits fifth in the poll.

Since the first Conference women's basketball preseason poll in 2003-04, the N.C. Wesleyan program has been picked to capture the title twice and has succeeded in one of those seasons. The team picked first in the history of the preseason poll has reached at least the semifinals of the Conference tournament 19 out of 20 times, played for the championship 15 of those years, and won the League title on nine occasions. Conversely, the team picked second in the preseason poll has won the Conference championship six times.

The 2024 USA South Women's Basketball Tournament will once again be conducted exclusively on campus sites. The top-six seeded teams will advance to the tournament which will begin with first round action on Tuesday, February 20. The semifinals will take place Thursday, February 22 with the finals occurring on Saturday, February 24. The higher-seeded team in each contest will serve as the host of that particular game.