WAYNE, N.J. – The William Paterson women's basketball team is ranked 23rd in the D3News 2013-14 Preseason Top 25 Poll, and senior guard Floriana Borova (Cresskill, N.J./Cresskill) was named one of the nation's top 24 players by the same group.

The Pioneers return eight letterwinners and all five starters from a 2012-13 team that finished with a 21-8 overall record and a 12-4 mark in conference play, reaching the championship game of the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Tournament and the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Acknowledged as an honorable-mention all-American by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), Borova was named the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association (MBWA) Player of the Year and a member of the D3hoops.com All-Atlantic Region, All-NJAC, ECAC All-Metro Region and All-MBWA First Teams last winter. She averaged a league-best 20.3 points (16th in Division III), 5.0 assists (27th nationally) and 4.0 steals (eighth in Division III) per game, adding 5.7 rebounds per contest, while starting all but one game. Also first in the NJAC in three-pointers/game (2.5, tied-45th nationally), fourth in free-throw percentage (.782, 97-124) and three-point field-goal percentage (.319, 72-226), fifth in assist/turnover ratio (0.9) and eighth in defensive rebounds (4.2 rpg), Borova was a six-time NJAC Player of the Week (Nov. 26, Dec. 10, Dec. 17, Feb. 11, Feb. 18, March 4) and a two-time ECAC Metro Player of the Week (Nov. 27, Feb. 12). She scored in double figures in all but one game (14 20+, four 30+), adding one double-digit rebounding effort for one double-double, and broke the WP single-season records for steals (115) and three-pointers attempted (226). Borova scored her 1,000th career point Feb. 6 at Kean (currently 16th in WP history with 1,138 points).

William Paterson will begin the 2013-14 season Friday, Nov. 15, at Frostburg's Jim Crawley Tournament, taking on Gettysburg at 8:00 p.m. in a rematch of the two teams' 2013 NCAA Tournament first-round contest.

For all of the latest information on the Pioneers, visit http://www.wpupioneers.com, http://www.facebook.com/wpupioneers, http://www.youtube.com/thewpupioneers and http://twitter.com/wpupioneers.

2013-14 D3 News Preseason Poll/Awards