Western Kentucky’s Dee Givens and Raneem Elgedawy were voted Preseason All-Conference USA by league coaches and the Lady Toppers were also picked to finish third, the conference office announced Wednesday.

Givens was C-USA’s third leading scorer last season, averaging 17.6 points per game, and earned C-USA All-Conference First Team and All-Defensive Team honors at the end of the season. The Lexington native broke onto the scene as an accurate shooter and lockdown defender for the Lady Toppers.

She became the first Lady Topper in school history to post a 45-40-85 shooting line for an entire season (45.5 from the field, 40.1 from 3-point range and 85.9 from the free-throw line). She had the third most 3-pointers (79) in a single season in program history and the third best free-throw percentage (.859) in a season by a Lady Topper.

Givens’ 99 steals in 2018-19 were the most of any player in C-USA and 19th in the nation.

Elgedawy earned C-USA All-Conference Second Team honors at the end of last season as a sophomore.

The Alexandria, Egypt, native had six double-doubles in 2018-19 and was only the second Lady Topper to record multiple 20-rebound games with a 21-board performance at Little Rock.

Rice senior guard Erica Ogwumike was picked as the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year for the second straight season.

2019-20 C-USA Preseason Women’s Basketball Team

Anastasia Hayes, Middle Tennessee

• Erica Ogwumike, Rice

Nancy Mulkey, Rice

Shonte Hailes, Southern Miss

Rachael Childress, UAB

Miyah Barnes, UAB

Dee Givens, WKU

Raneem Elgedawy, WKU

• Preseason Player of the Year

WKU finished last season 20-15 under Greg Collins in his first season as head coach, extending the team’s streak of 20-win seasons to seven straight. The Lady Toppers ended the season tied for third place in C-USA and earned the four seed in the conference tournament.

The Lady Toppers received an invite to the WNIT in 2018-19 and advanced to the third round, the furthest advancing team out of the league’s five teams competing in the postseason.

Collins brings back veteran experience with 86 percent of his offensive production from last season returning. WKU returns top scorers Givens, Elgedawy, C-USA All-Freshmen Team honoree Meral Abdelgawad, Whitney Creech, Alexis Brewer and Sherry Porter.

WKU also welcomes two transfers and three freshmen into the mix along with Myriah Haywood and Sandra Skinner, both of whom sat out the 2018-19 season.

2019-20 C-USA Preseason Coaches’ Poll (first-place votes)

1. Rice (11)

2. Middle Tennessee (3)

3. WKU

4. UAB

5. Old Dominion

6. Charlotte

7. North Texas

8. Southern Miss

9. Louisiana Tech

10. Florida Atlantic

11. Marshall

12. UTEP

13. UTSA

14. FIU{&end}