The Montana women's basketball team, which has won five of the last six regular-season Big Sky Conference championships, has been picked for a second-place finish in the 2009-10 preseason coaches' poll which the league announced on Thursday.

This marks the first time since the 1999-2000 season that Montana hasn't entered the season as the outright choice or co-favorite in voting by the league's coaches.

The Lady Griz received two first-place votes and 56 points in this season's poll to finish second behind Portland State, which got the other seven first-place votes and 63 points.

Montana, which lost a pair of first team All-Big Sky Conference players in Mandy Morales and Sonya Rogers and second team selection Britney Lohman, won the regular-season title in 2008-09 with a 15-1 league mark.

Portland State, which returns first team All-Big Sky pick Claire Faucher, finished second last year with a 14-2 record.