NEW YORK – The Associated Press recently released its 2009-10 Preseason Top 25 women’s basketball team rankings comprised of 25 top teams and another 31 receiving votes. University of Delaware received a vote in the poll.

Delaware’s lone No. 25 vote is the first preseason AP vote awarded to a Delaware men’s or women’s basketball team in school history. Delaware women’s squad most recently received votes in the AP Top 25 Poll during the 2006-07 season on 13 separate occasions from Nov. 27-March 6.

The University of Connecticut was a unanimous No. 1 choice, as they received all 40 first place votes for a total of 1,000 points. Connecticut was followed by Stanford (951 points), Ohio State (862), Notre Dame (799), and North Carolina (798).

Rounding out the Top 25 teams were Duke (772), Baylor (744), Tennessee (676), LSU (600), Michigan State (521), Xavier (492), Texas (487), Oklahoma (444), Virginia (394), Florida State (385), Arizona State (317), DePaul (301), California (294), Georgia Tech (262), Kansas (241), Georgia (201), Vanderbilt (165), Louisville (156), Middle Tennessee State (143), and Rutgers (138).

Other teams receiving votes included: Texas A&M (137), Maryland (114), Mississippi State (110), San Diego State (78), South Dakota State (70), Pittsburgh (48), Purdue (45), Kansas State (33), Gonzaga (30), Marist (26), UCLA (26), Michigan (16), Iowa State (14), Minnesota (14), Boston College (12), Louisiana Tech (11), Tulane (9), Bowling Green (8), Arkansas (7), TCU (7), Wisconsin-Green Bay (7), Auburn (6), Nebraska (6), Texas Tech (6), USC (5), Florida (3), Fresno State (3), Oklahoma State (3), Delaware (1), Florida Gulf Coast (1), Temple (1).

Delaware returns each of its five starters, including nine letterwinners, and adds five new faces to the 2009-10 brigade. Freshman redshirt Elena Delle Donne who joins the basketball team after having played a season of volleyball at UD in 2008, recently received votes for the AP Preseason All-America team. The team is comprised of five members, while another 14 individuals, Delle Donne included, received votes.

The Hens will open their season with seven consecutive road games, debuting at DeGol Arena at St. Francis, Pa., at 7 p.m.