MINNEAPOLIS - Senior guard
Kristen Richardson was selected as one of the Top 25 players in the nation as a D3hoops.com Preseason Honorable Mention All-America selection on Friday. Richardson is the only Ohio Athletic Conference player on the list.
Richardson, a 5-6 guard from Oxford, Ohio, was also a D3hoops.com All-Great Lakes Region Second Team pick last season in addition to earning All-OAC First Team and OAC All-Academic Team honors. She will enters her senior season as the third highest returning scorer in the OAC after leading the Crusaders with 14.4 points per game in 2008-2009. Richardson became Capital's 18th member of the 1,000-point club on the final day of the 2008-2009 regular season during a season-best 29-point effort against Otterbein. She converted on 57.9 percent of her shots from the field in conference play and was named the OAC Player of the Week on Jan. 5 after tallying 22 points and 11-of-14 shooting from the field to go along with five assists against Marietta.
Capital will begin the 2009-2010 campaign nationally ranked in both major preseason polls. CU is 14th in the USA Today/ESPN /WBCA Division III Preseason Coaches Poll and 22nd in the D3hoops.com Preseason Poll. The Crusaders were also picked first in the Ohio Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches Poll with seven of a maximum nine first-place votes.
Capital won the OAC Regular Season and Conference Tournament Titles in 2008-2009 while posting a perfect 12-0 record at home. The Crusaders advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the 14th time in program history while taking home its 11th OAC Regular Season Title and ninth OAC Tourney Championship. Capital has been home to 33 OAC All-Academic Team selections, which is the most of any conference school. The Crusaders boast the best record and winning percentage of any program in the OAC and had the most wins of any school nationally during the 1990s.