GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Davenport University women's basketball program will open its 2022-23 season this weekend with a trip to St. Louis, Missouri to play Maryville on Friday and Missouri-St. Louis on Saturday. This has been a familiar matchup with the Panthers playing these two schools to kick off the season over the past few years.

•    New Faces: Davenport will be welcoming nine freshmen to their lineup this season under first-year head coach Shonda Sanders. The early non-conference games will be crucial to mesh the team together before Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play begins in early December. Ellie Toney (Corunna, Mich.) will see significant playing time after averaging 23.5 points, 10.3 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.2 steals as a senior at Corunna High School. Alexa Kolnitys (Midland, Mich./Dow) will see action at a guard spot and was named First Team All-State at Midland Dow averaging 18.5 points last season. Nevaeh Williams (Mount Clemens, Mich.) brings athleticism to the guard position and can also fill it up as evidenced by averaging 24 points per game as a senior at Mount Clemens High School. She even scored 60 points in a game against Pontiac Arts & Tech.

•    Seasoned Veterans: Heading back into the fold is three-year starter Scout Nelson (Mt. Pleasant, Mich./Sacred Heart Academy) who has averaged 32.1 minutes per game in her career, tops in Davenport history. Nelson increased her offensive production as a junior averaging 8.7 points per game. She does a little bit of everything for the Panthers and grabbed 4.5 rebounds to go with 89 assists, 37 steals, and 13 blocks last season. She ranked seventh in the GLIAC in assists and eighth in steals. Emily Lange (Wilton, Iowa) has played in 72 career games in the frontcourt for the Panthers. The team will need increased production back to the form she showed as a sophomore averaging 8.9 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. Ajai Simmons had flashes of great play in her first season at Davenport in 2021-22. She scored in double figures in four of the first five games including a 21-point performance at Findlay. She finished the season however with just one game in double figures after January 22. Lillee Gustafson (Highland, Mich./Hartland H.S.) had the biggest impact in the freshmen class from last season. Gustafson started in 28 games and ranked third in the GLIAC with 7.9 rebounds per game. She also set the single-game school record with 19 boards on January 29 against Parkside. Gustafson had a pair of double-doubles on the season against Purdue Northwest on Dec. 11 (13 points, 13 rebounds) and Cornerstone on Dec. 30 (10 points, 15 rebounds).



LIVE COVERAGE
Friday, November 11 (Maryville) - 2:00 PM ET - Live Video - Listen (Ken Clemens) - Live Stats
Saturday, November 12 (UMSL) - 2:00 PM ET - Live Video - Listen (Ken Clemens) - Live Stats