Clayton State women advance to second in USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 Coaches’ Poll

USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll (Jan. 17)
LILBURN, Ga. – January 17, 2012 – For the second straight week, the Clayton State Laker women's basketball team moved up in the USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll. The new poll was released on Tuesday, and Clayton State moved up one spot to second in the nation.

Clayton State received 744 points and five first-place votes in the new poll - only 26 points behind top-ranked Cal-San Diego and 58 points ahead of third-rated Edinboro. The Lakers (16-1, 6-0 Peach Belt Conference) are currently on an impressive 13-game winning streak after rolling past visiting Augusta State 85-47 on Saturday.

Clayton State is one of two Peach Belt Conference teams nationally ranked in the latest poll.  USC Aiken moved up two spots to No. 11. In addition, conference foes Lander and Georgia Southwestern both received votes.

There are some more changes this week in the Top 10 after previous No. 1-ranked Arkansas Tech was defeated twice last week. Cal-San Diego (16-0) takes over as the new No. 1-ranked team in Division II, followed by Clayton State, Edinboro (14-0), Fort Lewis (14-1) and Metro State (14-1). Rounding out the Top 10 is Bentley (14-2), Rollins (13-1), Northeastern State (14-1), Arkansas Tech (9-2) and Wayne State (15-2).

Head coach Dennis Cox's Lakers hit the road for two Peach Belt Conference encounters this week - Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Flagler, and Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Armstrong.