RUSTON - With the first exhibition game of the season less than one week away, the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters received a No. 12 ranking in the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll released Monday.

Tech, which finished 31-3 last year and a final ranking of No. 9 in the country, garnered 507 total points and finished right behind No. 11 ranked Georgia (550 points). Defending national champion Connecticut received all 40 first place votes and 1000 points to rank No. 1 followed by Duke, Texas, Tennessee, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Stanford, Penn State, Purdue and LSU to round out the top 10.

Following Georgia and Louisiana Tech, Minnesota ranked No.13 followed by North Carolina, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Rutgers, UC-Santa Barbara, Utah and Colorado. The final five are Oklahoma, Arizona, TCU, Virginia and Auburn.

The Lady Techsters out of conference schedule includes games at No. 4 Tennessee and at No. 8 Penn State as well as a home game against Mississippi State, which garnered 29 votes.

Louisiana Tech, which returns four starters and seven letter winners from last year, will open its exhibition season Monday night at 6 p.m. against the Perik Jumpers out of the Netherlands.