SIOUX FALLS – Opening the 2017-18 season at home, University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball will host Presentation College on Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 6 p.m. The Cougars are coming off their second consecutive 20-win campaign after they finished with a 22-8 record last season, which ended in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament championship game.
 
Cougars set to host Presentation for fourth consecutive season
USF Women's Basketball is set to host in-state foe Presentation College for the fourth consecutive year. USF owns a perfect 3-0 record against the Saints since USF joined the NCAA Division II ranks. All three victories have come by a double-digit margin and average out to a 24.3-point win for USF.  Most recently, the Cougars cruised to a 74-57 victory over the Saints last season, which included a 14-point, five-assist performance by Kaely Hummel in her collegiate debut.
 
Let's get it started…at home
Since USF joined the NCAA Division II ranks, USF Women's Basketball has hosted their first game of the and the Cougars are 5-0 entering Tuesday's opener.  USF's home opener is also the third time they will have started a season against Presentation, recording 87-59 and 74-57 victories in 2014 and 2016, respectively.
 
Final tune-up: USF falls at Northern Iowa in exhibition game
In their final competition before opening the regular season, USF traveled to Cedar Falls, Iowa and squared off with 2017 Division I NCAA Tournament participant Northern Iowa on Sunday, Nov. 5. The Cougars suffered an 80-53 loss, but saw NSIC preseason player to watch Kaely Hummel score 18 points and connect on three 3-pointers. Jacey Huniker stuffed the stat sheet as she is wont to do, scoring eight points, grabbing seven rebounds and adding four steals and a pair of assists. Starting backcourt duo of Jasmine Harris and Augusta Thramer combined for 14 points while Lauren Sanders and Mariah Szymanski each hit a 3-pointer and scored five points off the bench..
 
Cougars picked 10th in NSIC preseason poll, sixth in south division
USF was picked to finish 10th by the league coaches in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference preseason coaches' poll. The Cougars picked up 123 points in the poll, just three points from eighth. MSU Moorhead was tabbed the overall favorite while Northern State and Augustana each received first-place votes. In the eight-team south division poll, USF was picked sixth and Augustana earned the top spot. The past two seasons, USF has outperformed their preseason billing, placing second in 2015-16 and taking fifth in 2016-17 after they were picked ninth.
 
Hummel named player to watch, returns as leading scorer
A starter for the Cougars from day one, guard Kaely Hummel enters her sophomore season as the leading returning scorer for USF and she was cited as a player to watch in the NSIC preseason release. A 5-foot-7 Cherokee, Iowa native, Hummel averaged 8.0 points per game last season, appearing in all 30 games, including 29 starts. A 34.6 percent shooter from behind the arc, Hummel connected on a team-high 54 three-point field goals. Including the first three games of her career, Hummel scored in double figures 10 times and posted a career-high 22 points in USF's win at Augustana.
 
Rate of play, rate of play, rate of play
The Cougars racked up 49 wins over the past two years in vastly different ways when adjusting for their pace of play. USF's 27-win team in 2015-16 was one of the fastest in the NSIC, averaging nearly 71 possessions per game while scoring 72.6 points per game, which ranked fifth in the league. Adjusting for their pace of play, the Cougars' offensive rating of 102.62 points per 100 possessions was second in the league. After graduating four of their top five scorers, Traphagen revamped the team and their pace dropped nearly two possessions per game in 2016-17. USF became the toughest defensive team in the conference, posting an 81.11 defensive rating, a 81.11 points per 100 possessions. The Cougars held opponents to 56.9 points while playing at a nice 69 possessions per game.
 
Three's a crowd
With a young backcourt, the Cougar offense will rely heavily on USF's hot-shooting sophomore trio of Kaely Hummel, Andi Mataloni and Mariah Szymanski. Hummel knocked in a USF-high 54 three-point field goals at a 34.6 percent rate. Finding her niche in the offense later in the season, sharp-shooting forward Mataloni connected from deep at a 39.3 rate with 46 made threes. Szymanski shot 33.3 percent from behind the arc, making 22 threes in her freshman season. Of USF's 651 attempted 3-pointers, Hummel, Mataloni and Szymanski took 52 percent of those shots.
 
Cougar cubs to grow up fast
Natural attrition over the past two seasons has hit the Cougars hard, graduating four of their top five scorers each year. With only two upperclassmen on the 2017-18 roster in senior Moira Duffy and junior Jacey Huinker, the Cougars look to their underclassmen in 2017-18. Headlining those freshmen are guards Jasmine Harris and Lauren Sanders, who figure to push for starting roles and heavy minutes. In the post, forward Kennedy Dighton and center Ashley Hodell hope to start the transition from the USF Women's Basketball program's first All-American Sam Knecht, who was the starting center for four years. Kiara Bradley, Amanda Dagostino Abby Slater, and Mari Smitsdorff give the Cougars plenty of options and playing styles in the post.