College Sports Madness named EWU basketball’s redshirt senior Lexie Nelson and redshirt junior Hayley Hodgins to their 2014-15 preseason All-Big Sky Conference team on Oct. 15.

Nelson made the first team roster as a guard/forward and Hodgins made the second team roster at the guard position. Eastern is the only Big Sky Conference school this season with more than one player receiving the honor.

“I feel very fortunate to be a part of that group,” said Nelson. “[There are] a lot of great players on that all-conference team, so I think it’s a testament to what we did last year.”

Hodgins said it is a great feeling for her as well. It allows her to work toward being on the regular season all-conference team among other goals.

“I want to win the league as a team; individual honors [are] great but it doesn’t really mean much if you don’t have overall success,” she said.

Head coach Wendy Schuller said she has confidence in Nelson and Hodgins as players.

“Coming into the year, I think it’s just more than anything reassuring to know that we’ve got some proven guards,” said Schuller. “It’s more than anything a testament to their work ethic and the fact that there’s a high level of respect for them around the conference. I expect that they’re going to have great seasons for us.”

Last season, Nelson started all 30 games and led the team in scoring with 15.9 points per game. She also averaged 44 percent behind the 3-point line while shooting 89.5 percent behind the free-throw stripe. Nelson was also honored with First Team All-Big Sky last season.

Hodgins had highlights for the Eagles last season as well. She started in all of Eastern’s games while averaging 13.5 points per game. Hodgins also shot 67 3-pointers last season and received honorable mention All-Big Sky recognition for the 2013-14 season.

“We’ve been just working hard at practice, really trying to bring high energy every day,” said Nelson. She said the most important things in practice are staying focused and having high energy.

Hodgins said, “I think we’re really prepared as a team and we’re only getting better every day.” “We’ve been putting in lots of hours every week.”

According to Schuller, there is no specific role on the team for Nelson and Hodgins. Schuller believes that every year athletes grow and get better. She explained that both players just want to win basketball games for the team, so they’re going to try their best to help the team be successful.

“I’ll expect them to lead for us, I’ll expect them to be players who can step up and make things happen when we need things to happen,” said Schuller. “I’ll expect them also to sometimes wrap their arms around the younger kids and get them on our page and understanding what we’re trying to do.”

Nelson and Hodgins both said they appreciate the honor; however, they want to win with their teammates, and look at their team as a support system.

“It’s never been about one person,” said Hodgins. “Me and Lexie getting honored, we kind of put that towards our team.”

“For me, I’m not looking at those honors so much,” said Nelson. “Winning the Big Sky is what I really want. I feel very fortunate to be a part of that, but for me, I’m just looking to win that championship.”