Winona State Women's Basketball starts their season with a Division III opponent, Beloit College. Saturday is the first meeting between the Warriors and the Buccaneers. The Buccaneers are coming off of a 6-17 (4-14 MWC) season a year ago. Beloit's top two returning scorers are Junior Shelby Kline and Jaylan Dunn who averaged 8.2 and 7.5 points per game. They will go against the Warriors top two from last season, Hannah McGlone (9.2) and Liz Evenocheck (8.0). 

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At The Helm: Scott Ballard is entering his 14^th season as head coach of the Warrior women and is looking to put another winning season under his belt in 2017-18. Ballard in his career is 232-151 (149-109 NSIC) here at Winona State and only has three losing seasons. He recently tallied his 500^th win at the end of last season as the Warriors beat U-Mary in the opening round of the NSIC Tournament. Coach has a young team this year, but looks to develop them into a championship caliber squad.
 
Youth of the Nation: Last year, the Warriors said goodbye to five seniors including their leading scorer Jenny Tuttle, and Tara Roelofs whose name is all over the Winona State record books. This year's squad is full of young talent. Six freshmen join the team this year while Ballard returns two sophomores, two juniors, and lone senior Hannah McGlone. Joining the team this year is redshirt-sophomore Alyssa Jurges coming from Lewis University where she played in 12 games last year and scored 21 points. Also new to the team is junior Rachel Novotny from Lake Superior State. Rachel started every game last year for the Lakers and averaged 7.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
 
Lone Senior: Hannah McGlone is the lone senior for the warriors this year. Over her career she has been a part of three 20-plus win teams that have gone deep into the NSIC Tournament and even appeared in the NCAA Central Region Championship game. As a four-year starter, she has averaged seven points and seven rebounds per game while knocking down 63 percent of her free throws and tallying 12 double-doubles. She will look to start her 91^st game as the season commences.
 
NSIC Poll: In the preseason coaches' poll, Winona State ranks fifth overall and third in the south division. Ahead of them in the overall standings are fellow south division foes Wayne State and Augustana followed by two north division teams Northern State and MSU Moorhead. Wayne State and Augustana also lead the Warriors in the south division poll, preventing them from the top spot.
 
Home Sweet Home: Over the past three seasons, Ballard and the Warrior's are an astonishing 39-4 at home. Last season they went 10-2 at home, only losing to Augustana and Minnesota State. Winona hopes that the home court advantage continues into the 2017-18 season.