Marietta College’s Sophia Murray (4) handles the ball during a game last season at Ban Johnson Arena. (Times file photo)

WESTERVILLE — The Marietta College women’s basketball team was picked to finish fourth in the Ohio Athletic Conference Preseason Poll, announced Thursday morning by the conference office.

Last year’s OAC regular season champions, Baldwin Wallace University, received nine first place votes, totaling 81 points, to receive the top spot in the poll. Ohio Northern University, last year’s OAC Tournament champs, was second with 69 points. Capital received the other first place vote and collected 64 points to get third place. The Pioneers received 54 points in the poll, putting them solidly in fourth place. John Carroll and Mount Union each totaled 46 points to give them a tie for fifth place and Otterbein grabbed seventh place as they garnered 37 points.

The bottom three includes Muskingum University and Wilmington College (21 points) in a tie for eighth place, and Heidelberg University rounds out the poll with 11 points.

“We are happy to be picked in the top half of the OAC again,” said Marietta College first-year head coach Jenna Andersen. “We have a new look to our program this year, but we are excited to show the conference and our fans what we can do.”

Last season the Pioneers went 21-7 overall and 15-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, giving them the number two seed in the OAC tournament. Marietta powered all the way to the OAC Championship game but was defeated by the Polar Bears, 63-55. Even with the loss, the Pioneers once again received an at-large bid into the NCAA Championship tournament. Marietta was eliminated from the tourney after losing in the first round to John Hopkins University, 75-66.

Marietta opens the season on the road against Bethany College on Friday with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m.

The complete poll is below. First-place votes are in parenthesis.

OAC Preseason Coaches Poll:

1. Baldwin Wallace (9) — 81

2. Ohio Northern — 69

3. Capital (1) — 64

4. Marietta — 54

T5. John Carroll — 46

T5. Mount Union — 46

7. Otterbein — 37

T8. Muskingum — 21

T8. Wilmington — 21

10. Heidelberg — 11