HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech women's basketball season gets underway Friday with a 1 p.m. contest against Lewis at the NCAA D2 Midwest Region Tip-off hosted at the Justagame Fieldhouse in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. The Huskies will also match up against Thomas More on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Dells.
Live stats for the games can be found at MichiganTechhuskies.com/live with a live stream and in-person tickets are available for purchase provided by the Justagame Fieldhouse.
About the Flyers
For the second straight year, Lewis has been selected to win the GLVC with nine first-place votes. Head coach Keisha Newell returns for her third year at the helm with an overall ledger of 44-20 during her time in Romeoville.
The Flyers finished 23-9 last season with a program-best conference record of 19-3 in the GLVC, being crowned regular season champions before winning the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed, capped with their second-straight NCAA Midwest Regional appearance.
Lewis returns two All-GLVC second team starters in Jenna Badali and Taylor Gugliuzza. Badali was named All-GLVC Tournament MVP following 30 starts a season ago, finishing with a stat line of 14 points, 4.6 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. Gugliuzza started all 32 games last season, recording 12.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per outing.
Michigan Tech has won the past two meetings against the Flyers, with an 83-64 win in Houghton last season and 95-83 in Liberty, Missouri, in 2022.
About the Saints
Thomas More is in its first year without the winningest coach in program history, Jeff Hans, who held a record of 339-42 in 13 years at the helm. Brian Neal was named head coach on May 2 and was an assistant coach under Hans in the recent past.
The Saints were picked to finish sixth in the G-MAC following an 18-11 record in 2023-24. Thomas More returns junior forward Rylee Turner, who finished last season averaging 8.7 points and six rebounds per outing.
Thomas More adds five true freshmen and one transfer to go with 12 returners.
About the Huskies
Michigan Tech was predicted to finish fifth in the GLIAC as senior guard Isabella Lenz was picked to repeat as an All-GLIAC First Team honoree. Head coach Sam Clayton returns for her seventh year at the helm of the Huskies, finishing last season 15-12 overall and 11-7 in the GLIAC.
Lenz returns for another year for the Black & Gold after finishing last season on the All-GLIAC First Team, averaging 11.9 points, 3.5 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per outing. The Prescott, Wisconsin, native scored in double-figures in 20 games a season ago while holding an 89.7 percentage from the free throw line, shooting 78-for-87.
Alyssa Wypych returns for her sophomore campaign for the Huskies after playing 27 games as a true freshman, making 11 starts, averaging 8.7 points and 2.1 rebounds. Emma Anderson scored 154 points with an average of 5.4 points and 2.3 rebounds a game in the 2023-24 campaign.
MTU added two transfers and four freshmen to the roster, which returns nine players from a season ago.
