LIBERTY, Mo. - The William Jewell women's basketball team begins the 2021-2022 season with their longest road trip of the year as they head to Northern Michigan to take on the host Wildcats along with Michigan Tech in the GLVC-GLIAC Crossover.  

GAME INFORMATION
📍 Marquette, Mich. (Berry Events Center)
⌚️ 12:15 pm CST (Northern Michigan)
⌚️ 11:00 am CST (Michigan Tech)

ADMISSION 🎟
🟢 Spectators are permitted with masks required

BROADCAST 🎥 
• vs. Northern Michigan
• vs. Michigan Tech (no video)

LIVE STATS 📊
• vs. Northern Michigan
• vs. Michigan Tech

CARDINAL NOTES

• Cardinal fans will be seeing an entirely new lineup this season as only six letterwinners return after the graduation of a seven-member senior class. Included in the departed group is All-American Kiara Bradley and All-GLVC performer Sydney Offield, along Claire Burch, Macyn Wilbers, Rhyann Fisher, Annemarie Boeh and Kaitlyn Baird. 
• Lea Finn is the most experienced player on the roster with 64 career games. The senior from Wisconsin has scored 271 points in her career with 91 rebounds while shooting better than 40% from the field. 
• Bailey Russell is the only other senior on the roster, albeit in just her third year. The St. Joseph, Missouri native has plans to graduate early and is one of the top defensive players in the league with 39 steals in 33 career games. 
• Jewell will look to a nine-member recruiting class, including three transfers to fill the holes left by the 2021 seniors. Katie Knock is a transfer from Northern State where she averaged 3.2 points and 2.6 rebounds. Two junior college transfers will also look to make immediate impacts. D'Asya Collier-Williams comes to the Cardinals from across the state line at Johnson County Community College where she led the Cavaliers to a 50-7 record and appearance in the NJCAA national championship. Meanwhile on the other side of the state at St. Louis Community College, Kierra Winkeler was sensational for two years posting 25 double doubles in 40 games played, earning two All-Conference and All-Region honors. 
• With just a handful of upperclassmen on the roster, the Cardinal freshmen will be looked to early in their careers. Kate Hillyer is the all-time leading scorer from Eureka High School (Mo.) and younger sister of former Maryville University standout Alex Hillyer. Katelynn Ostronic is a two-time All-State performer at DeSoto High School while Rachel Senn is a product of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame program at Kickapoo (Mo.). Skyler Boylan played her high school ball in Colorado and is the daughter of former Jewell men's basketball All-American Nate Boylan. Local standout Dallas Carpenter and Iowa native Casi Waterhouse round out the rookies. 
• Jill Slominski enters her 26th season at William Jewell and is the most tenured coach in the department. Her 452 wins rank her tops among active GLVC coaches and 21st in Division II. 

 
ABOUT NORTHERN MICHIGAN

• Northern Michigan is coming off a 10-9 season after not playing until January 9. The GLIAC played a unique schedule, taking on the same opponent in back-to-back days from January 9-February 27.
• The Wildcats return four players who started at least 12 games, including First Team All-GLIAC performer Makaylee Kuhn who led the offense with 19.4 points and 3.2 assists per game. The 5'11 guard poured in a career high 39 points against Purdue Northwest in the second to last game of the season. 
• Elena Alaix averaged just under 10 points while grabing 4.6 rebounds while Samantha Potter led the team on the glass with 7.4 boards per outing. 
• Troy Mattson is now in his 17th season with the Wildcats, winning more than 280 games.

ABOUT MICHIGAN TECH

• Michigan Tech enjoyed a superb 20-2 season through a unique GLIAC schedule. The only losses came against Northwood and Ashland with an 18-game winning streak between them. 
• Leading the returners is Ellie Mackay who put up 15 points per game last season, playing nearly 32 minutes a night. 
• Jordan Ludescher boasted a team best 6.4 rebounds per game average while scoring 13.4 points.
• As a team, Michigan Tech was tops in the GLIAC last season with a scoring margin over nearly 11 points, allowing opponents just 56.6 points per contest, 11th best in Division II. 
• Sam Clayton is now in her fourth season at the helm of her alma mater. As a player she led the Huskies to the 2011 Division II national championship game and was an Honorable Mention All-American.