GAME STORYLINES
Wayne State will open its 2023-24 regular season with a back-to-back set on Friday, November 10 and Saturday, November 11 against #1-Ashland and Malone.  Friday's tip against the defending national champion Eagles is at 5:30 p.m., while Saturday's game at the Pioneers is slated for a 4 p.m. start.  The Warriors will play three games over six days in Ohio before having their home opener on Friday, November 17 vs. Tiffin (5:30 p.m.).

WSU kicked off last season with the same two schools in AU and MU, but with both contests at home in the Wayne State Fieldhouse.  The Green and Gold dropped an 87-61 decision to Ashland before notching win No. 1 in 2022-23 with a 66-54 triumph over Malone.  In season openers under head coach Carrie Lohr (2011-22), Wayne State is 7-5 with the last victory being a 75-45 win vs. Lake Erie in the 2021 season-opener.

SERIES HISTORY
Ashland holds a 45-16 advantage in the all-time season series between the two schools.  A slim one-point victory (65-64) on February 16, 2021, at the Matthaei is the lone WSU triumph over the Eagles in the last 15 meetings dating back to 2014.  The Warriors have six wins in 31 road matchups, but none since an 87-78 victory on December 18, 2013, at Kates Gymnasium.  Wayne State's longest win streak over AU is four games between February 3, 2000, and February 15, 2001.

The Green and Gold fares better in the all-time series against Malone as they possess a 7-2 edge.  One of those defeats was a 61-53 loss in the GLIAC Semifinal on March 8, 2014, at the Matthaei.  The Warriors will look to win again inside Osborne Hall after losing there in the previous meeting back on February 18, 2016 – which was also the most recent contest played between the former GLIAC foes until last season's game.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Ashland went undefeated last season (37-0) on its way to a third NCAA Division II national title.  Over the last 12 seasons, AU is 359-39 (.902) with three undefeated seasons and a Division II record 73-game win streak.  Wayne State will look to hand Ashland just its 14th home loss in that span, as the Eagles are 194-13 (.937) at Kates Gymnasium in those 12 campaigns.
AU had four players average in doubles figures in 2022-23, led by the returning Annie Roshak (14.6 PPG) for her graduate season.  A pair of junior forwards in Zoe Miller (12.1 PPG) and Hayley Smith (11.3 PPG) are also back after averaging 10+ points per contest.  Roshak was named the 2022-23 Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) Women's Athlete of the Year and led her team with a .630 field goal percentage (208-of-330), an impressive .929 percentage at the free throw line (78-of-84), and 28 blocked shots.

Miller paced the Eagles in made free throws (81), while also dishing out 54 assists and collecting 28 steals.  Smith was the squad's leading rebounder with 240 (85 offensive and 155 defensive).  Roshak and Smith are the two lone Eagles back for this season that started at least 30 games last campaign.

Kari Pickens will begin her 11th season as head coach of the Ashland Eagles.  She has guided AU to a 142-15 (.905) overall record and begins the 2023-24 season as the second-winningest NCAA women's basketball coach all-time by winning percentage.

Malone was on the wrong side of Ashland's championship run, as they were eliminated from both the GMAC Tournament and NCAA Midwest Regional by the Eagles.  Despite the pair of setbacks, the Pioneers recorded a 21-10 overall ledger a season ago and made their second NCAA Tournament appearance in program history.

MU will play without its leading scorer from 2022-23 in Alexis Hutchison, who averaged 18.1 PPG and ranked fifth in the GMAC.  Emma Kallas, the Pioneers' other leading scorer is also a departure from last year.  That will leave much of the scoring responsibility to sophomore center Erin Kaufman, the only other player from Malone that averaged in double figures (11.6 PPG).  Kaufman shot a team-best .541 (131-of-242) from the field and also secured 207 rebounds – two off the lead in that category.  Junior guards Kyli Horn and Brooklyn Troyer are the other two returning starters for Malone.  Troyer went 53-of-122 (.434) from beyond the arc a season ago, while Horn contributed 50 three-pointers as well, along with 20 steals and a .795 percentage (31-of-39) from the charity stripe.

The head coach of the Malone Pioneers is Selana Reale.  She will be entering her fifth season and has compiled a 79-49 (.617) ledger in Canton, Ohio.

GLIAC PRESEASON POLL
1. Grand Valley State (79 points, 7 first-place votes)
2. Ferris State (73 points, 3 first-place votes)
3. Michigan Tech (66 points)
4. Northern Michigan (52 points)
5. Wayne State (46 points)
6. Parkside (40 points)
7. Saginaw Valley State (37 points)
8. Davenport (22 points)
9. Purdue Northwest (19 points)
10. Lake Superior State (16 points)

MICHIGAN-DEARBORN RECAP
In a rare home exhibition affair, the Warriors hosted the University of Michigan-Dearborn on Wednesday, November 1.  UMD made the first basket of the game, but WSU led the rest of the way one nabbing a 4-2 advantage early on.  The Green and Gold held the Wolverines without a field goal in the final 7:45 of the first quarter and led 56-18 at intermission.  In the final period, Wayne State doubled up the guests 18-9 to put the finishing touches on the preseason victory.

Becca Fugate recorded a game-high 14 points, with Taylor Thompson chipping in with 13 points.  Both Alyssa Leister and Shea Tripp contributed 11 rebounds.

NATIONAL ATTENTION IN 2022-23
Last season, Wayne State finished seventh in free throw percentage (.785) out of 294 Division II programs ranked.  The squad also placed 38th in defensive rebounds per game (28.2), 66th in field goal percentage (.420), and 71st in three-point percentage defense (.286). 

Individually, Shea Tripp was one of the best free throw shooters in the nation.  She ranked 42nd nationally in free throw percentage (.860).  

SEASON OUTLOOK
The Green and Gold enter the new campaign more experienced than the season prior in which they recorded a 14-13 ledger despite losing six members of the 2021-22 squad.

Eight letterwinners and two other returnees are back for head coach Carrie Lohr, and are joined by seven newcomers for a roster of 17.  Lohr enters her 13th season as the head coach of the Warriors and is the school's all-time leader in coaching victories with 192.  She will be looking to hit a milestone later this season with her 200th win at WSU.

Becca Fugate, Kate McArthur, and Shea Tripp are among the key returnees as all three started a majority of the contests last season.  Fugate and Tripp tied for the team lead in points per game a season ago, as both scored exactly 361 points in 27 games (13.4 PPG).  Fugate also shot .352 from three-point range (45-of-128) and led the squad with 6.4 rebounds per game.  Tripp had squad-best marks of .860 free throw percentage (104-of-121), 3.0 assists per game (81 in 27 games played), and 2.1 steals per game (57 in 27 GP).  Her 6.4 rebounds per contest were just behind Fugate by six total boards.  McArthur went 28-of-85 (.329) from beyond the arc, which was second behind Fugate for any Warrior with at least 20 attempts.  She also dished out the ball to her teammates at a high level, notching 2.5 APG in her 26 games played.

J'Ahni Walker, Annabel Ayrault, McKenna Ferguson, Emily Homan, and Kayla Covington make up the freshman class this season, while Mackenzie Miller (Lakeland University) and ZaMaria Polk (Cleveland State) are the two new Wayne State transfers on this season's squad.

For a second consecutive season, Lohr will be assisted on the bench by Andy Ayrault and Christina Green.  Ayrault, a former men's basketball standout who played in 116 career games from 1989-93 for the Tartars, will be in his second season.  Green also had a four-year career (2013-17) with WSU and played in 89 contests (35 starts) for coach Lohr.  Green enters her fifth season on the staff and her third as one of the assistant coaches.

Following a three-game Ohio road trip, WSU will host its home opener on November 17 against Tiffin.  Other highlights on the schedule include the first visits to the Wayne State Fieldhouse for Lawrence Tech (November 26), D'Youville (December 3), and Findlay (December 19), which also round out the home non-conference slate.  The Warriors will also tangle with Edinboro for the first time since November 24, 2012, on November 28 at the McComb Fieldhouse.  This season's GLIAC schedule will once again consist of two games (home and road) between each school for a total of 18 contests within the league.

KEEP UP WITH THE ACTION
Every women's basketball GLIAC contest this season will be televised on FloSports (flohoops.com) per the conference's agreement with the streaming service.  All home non-conference games will also be available on FloSports for the 2023-24 campaign.  Joe Abramson and Brady Beedon will share play-by-play duties for the women's basketball broadcasts.

In addition, the WSU Department of Athletics has partnered with The PreP for streaming home athletic events for the 2023-24 season.