ROLLA, Mo. – With a veteran team in tow, Missouri S&T's women's basketball team will hit the floor for the first time this week as the Miners will play a pair of exhibition contests against teams from the NCAA Division I level.

The first of the exhibition contests is slated for Wednesday, when S&T goes to Springfield to face Missouri State in a 6 p.m. contest, then the Miners will play a second exhibition on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. against Southern Illinois Edwardsville.  These will be the only exhibitions S&T will play this season as the regular season opener is slated for Nov. 11 at Wisconsin-Parkside.

The Miners made a seven-game improvement in the win column during Kira Carter's second season at the helm, finishing the year at 11-16 overall and 8-12 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.  With four returning starters and other key returners on the roster, S&T was picked to finish seventh in the GLVC's pre-season poll that was released last week.

S&T's top three scorers are among the returning starters, headed by Laura Rodriguez (Gran Canaria, Spain/Baloncesto Torrelodones) and Alex Kerr (St. Louis, MO/St. Joseph's Academy), a pair of fifth-year seniors that earned second-team All-GLVC honors last year and are in pursuit of the school's all-time scoring record during the upcoming campaign.  Rodriguez ranked 11^th in the GLVC in scoring last year with an average of 14.1 points per game and has been one of the team's top three-point shooters over the past two seasons; she connected on a team-high 40 last winter at a clip of 35.4 percent.

Kerr, meanwhile, has been among the top post players in the GLVC throughout her career as she averaged 14 points and 7.7 rebounds per game last season.  She ranked fifth in the GLVC in the rebounding department and second in field goal percentage at 56.8 percent, while also providing a strong presence on the defensive end of the floor with returner Katelynne Roberts, as the duo ranked among the top three in the conference in blocked shots.

The other returning starters are senior Kristen Keys (St. Louis, MO/Westminster Christian Academy), who averaged 8.2 points and finished second on the team with 33 steals a year ago and Jada Lindesmith (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lutheran), who averaged 5.6 points and dished out 51 assists.

That group will be joined by a group of returners that includes Roberts – the GLVC leader in blocked shots with 38 in her freshman season – senior Michaela Davis (Keokuk, Iowa/Keokuk), who scored just over six points per game and had 38 assists last season and Eryn Puett (Columbia, MO/Rock Bridge), a junior that scored 4.7 points per game a year ago.  Addyson Kent, Chorus Davis, Lilli Machado and Katarina Zagorac all saw playing time during their first season with the Miners and figure to make bigger contributions in year two.

Missouri S&T also has three freshmen on the roster in Madi Kerrigan, who was on campus during the second semester last season after a prep career in Indiana where she averaged 9.8 points, 8.6 rebounds and nearly three blocked shots per game; Anna Finley, a two-time all-state selection and the Four Rivers Conference Player of the Year last season at Owensville High School; and Morgan Luebbering, a standout at Fatima High School in Westphalia, Mo.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: Missouri State finished the 2021-22 season with a 25-8 record and finished second in the
Missouri Valley Conference with a record of 14-4, but is under the direction of a new head coach this season as Beth Cunningham takes over for Amaka Agugua-Hamilton after she accepted the head coaching post at Virginia.

Cunningham, a former player and assistant at Notre Dame, inherits a program that reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season, as it beat Florida State before being eliminated by Ohio State.  The Lady Bears lost their top three scorers and four starters from last season, the one returning starter being Sydney Wilson, who is coming off a season where she averaged 10.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game while also ranking as one of the top free throw shooters in the MVC at 83 percent.

In her career, Wilson ranks among the top 20 in program history in free throw percentage, three-point baskets and games played and is moving near those plateaus in steals, scoring and free throws made.  Aside from Wilson, the other five players returning for the Lady Bears this season averaged no more than 3.5 points per game.  Missouri State was picked to finish sixth in the MVC this year.

SIUE, a former member of the GLVC, will also be playing its first exhibition game of the season against the Miners as it is coming off a 13-18 campaign in Samantha Quigley Smith's first season at the helm.  Smith, who formerly coached in the GLVC as the head coach at Lewis before taking the SIUE job prior to the 2021-22 season, led the Cougars to an 8-10 mark in conference play.

Mikayla Kinnard, the second-leading scorer for SIUE last year, is the team's top returning scorer as she posted marks of 12.3 points, 3.9 assists and a team-high 89 assists a year ago.  The Cougars also return Ajulu Thatha, a part-time starter who averaged 7.4 points per game last winter and Jaida Hampton, who scored 5.2 points per contest after transferring from Wichita State.  SIUE did lose its top two three-point shooters, who accounted for 81 of the team's 142 three-point baskets last season.

The Cougars were picked to finish sixth in the Ohio Valley Conference this season.