their team and overall playing ability. The list are as follows: Jayne Appel, Stanford Jessica Breland, North Carolina Tina Charles, Connecticut Alysha Clark, Middle Tennessee Allyssa DeHaan, Michigan State Alexis Gray-Lawson, California Tiffany Hayes, Connecticut Allison Hightower, LSU Ashley Houts, Georgia Jantel Lavender, Ohio State Danielle McCray, Kansas Jacinta Monroe, Florida State Maya Moore, Connecticut Jené Morris, San Diego State Deirdre Naughton, DePaul Kayla Pedersen, Stanford Ta'Shia Phillips, Xavier Jeanette Pohlen, Stanford Samantha Prahalis, Ohio State Andrea Riley, Oklahoma State Danielle Robinson, Oklahoma Jenna Smith, Illinois Carolyn Swords, Boston College Courtney Vandersloot, Gonzaga Monica Wright, Virginia Preseason Wooden Award nominees August 21: The 2009–10 preseason candidates list for the Women's Wooden Award was released, naming 31 student athletes. Preseason WNIT Ohio State headlines a field of 16-teams for the 2009 Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament. The field includes 11 teams that played in the postseason last spring: Arkansas-Little Rock, Bowling Green, Florida Gulf Coast, Georgia Tech, Marist, New Mexico, North Carolina A&T, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, West Virginia, and Winthrop. They will be joined in the Preseason WNIT field by Chicago State, Eastern Illinois, Northern Colorado, Towson, and UTEP. The Preseason WNIT features a three-game guarantee format. The event opens Friday, November 13 with first-round games. Second-round games will be played November 15 and 16. The semifinals will be on November 18 and 19. The championship is set for Sunday, November 22. Teams that lose in the first two rounds will play consolation games on the second weekend, November 20–22. All games are hosted by participating schools, and sites are announced by the end of the preceding round. In last year's Preseason WNIT, North Carolina defeated Oklahoma 80-79. First-round Preseason WNIT games to be held on Friday, Nov. 13, 2009 Eastern Illinois (24-9) at Ohio State (29-6), 5 p.m. ET UTEP (18-12) at Florida Gulf Coast (26-5), 7 p.m. ET Arkansas-Little Rock (26-7) at Oklahoma State (17-16), 7 p.m. ET Towson (17-13) at West Virginia (18-15), 7 p.m. ET Winthrop (16-16) at Georgia Tech (22-10), 7:30 p.m. ET Chicago State (16-13) at Bowling Green (29-5), 7:30 p.m. ET North Carolina A&T (26-7) at Marist (29-4), 7:30 p.m. ET Northern Colorado (12-18) at New Mexico (25-11), 9 p.m. ET Season outlook Nov. 11: The Big Ten and Big 12 Conferences announced the formation of an annual inter-conference challenge for women's basketball. The challenge will span at least two years and will