Gustavus vs. Martin Luther College
Date: Tuesday, November 15
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: St. Peter, Minn. | Gus Young Court
Live Coverage: Stats | Video
ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus College women’s basketball team will open its 2016-17 campaign on Tuesday night as they host Martin Luther College.
Gusties look to build off strong season
In 2015-16, the Gustavus women’s basketball team owned an overall record of 20-7 and finished second in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a league record of 14-4. The Gusties also earned their first playoff victory since 2012 when they defeated Saint Benedict in the MIAC playoff quarterfinals by a score of 65-40, before falling in the semifinals at Saint Mary’s.
Returners/losses
With a strong core of returners, Gustavus returns 76 percent of its scoring, including 11 returners and five incoming first-years. That core also includes the Gustie’s leading scorer from the two past seasons and two-time MIAC All-Conference recipient in Mikayla Miller (Jr., Goodhue, Minn.), last season’s co-captain, Hannah Howard (Sr., St. Paul, Minn.) and All-Conference Honorable Mention honoree, Miranda Rice (Jr., Forest Lake, Minn.).
“We have the bulk of our team back and we have high goals set for the season,” said Head Coach Laurie Kelly, who is now in her fifth season at Gustavus. We return Mikayla Miller, I think one of the best guards in the league and Miranda Rice, who had a breakout season last year as a sophomore. Our freshman played a ton of minutes last year so we will look for Justine Lee (So., Dawson, Minn.), Taylor Anderson (So., Rogers, Minn.), Brooke Lemke (So., Delano, Minn.), and Kendall Thompson (So., Eden Prairie, Minn.). We played with a lot of youth last year and now they have a little more experience, so we are hoping to be farther ahead as we start the season.”
Hannah Howard, a veteran leader for the Gusties has played in 73 games over the past three seasons and will serve as the team captain.
“She’s kind of the heart and soul,” Kelly spoke of Howard. “She has a great work ethic and a great attitude. I think she is great with team chemistry and making everyone feel important on the team. She leads by example every day and it really starts with her effort and her heart. I will look for her to really step up and be a very instrumental person on our team.”
Gusties picked to finish second in MIAC Preseason Coach’s Poll
Gustavus was voted to finish second in the MIAC 2016-17 standings as it received 109 votes included one first place vote, as voted on by MIAC coaches.
The University of St. Thomas is the preseason pick of conference coaches to finish atop the women’s MIAC standings in 2016-17 as they won their second straight regular season title and fifth-straight playoff title last season.
“Early on, our goal is to just continue to get better every day,” commented Kelly. “It is a new team, new players and roles change. The team does have high expectations and we don’t look past each day of practice and each game coming forward. We don’t take anything for granted and they are a lot of things we need to get better at. Tomorrow is a great opportunity to test it out. We have been going for over a month and they’re just glad to be able to put a uniform on and see where were at.”