Cullen Maksimowski, LSSULakers.com
SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich.—The Lake Superior State women's basketball team will tipoff its 2017-18 season Friday afternoon as they host Malone in a non-conference clash at 1 p.m. inside Bud Cooper Gymnasium.
The Lakers, who finished 5-23 a season ago, are in the midst of a new era with a brand new coaching staff and a roster that features 14 underclassmen, nine of which are freshman.
Tasked with steering the Lake State women's program in a new direction, LSSU alum Brandon Lokken was named head coach in June after serving as a long-time assistant to men's coach Steve Hettinga. Joining Lokken's staff are first-year assistant coaches Sarah Holt and Dionne Parker.
"Obviously with it being our first year with the new staff and the team we've been growing consistently," said Lokken. "We had our two exhibitions and saw a lot of good things playing (Western Michigan and Michigan State).
"We've had good week of practice and improved on some things so were just excited go and play our first game and we're really looking to continue to grow and take the next step."
Lake Superior will face a Malone team that is coming off a 23-7 season in which they won the Great Midwest Conference and made an NCAA Division II Tournament appearance.
"They're a really good team," Lokken said. "Malone is team that's doing it right and were excited to challenge ourselves playing them right out of the gate."
The Lakers will turn to forwards Tamara Novic Lindsey Pajot for veteran leadership this season as the only two seniors on the roster. Novic averaged 10.8 points per game and led the team in rebounding averaging five per contest.
Leading the underclassman are Claire Radtke and Lexie Khon who will look to build upon impressive freshman campaigns. Radtke averaged 8.1 points per game and Khon averaged 5.9 to go along with 4.6 rebounds.
"It's been great to see them figure it out a little bit," said Lokken. "In our exhibitions everyone got a chance to get in there. Some of our freshman really stepped up and made some big plays and some of our upperclassman have continued to step into bigger roles which is encouraging."
Adding to the excitement of the season opener is the fact that roughly 1,100 elementary and middle school students from the Sault Ste. Marie community will be packing into the Bud Cooper Gymnasium as part of a school 'Field Trip Day' promotion.
"It's a really cool environment with just a bunch of kids having fun," Lokken said. "It's a cool experience for all the local kids but also for good for us. It'll be loud and we'll get to play in front of one of our bigger crowds. The girls are really excited about it; I know they had a lot of fun with it last year."
After Friday's contest the Lakers will hit the road for three non-conference games against Minnesota-Duluth (Nov.22), Concordia-St.Paul (Nov.24) and Augustana S.D (Nov.25). Lake State returns home Nov.30 for 5:30 p.m. matchup with Ashland.
Tickets may be purchased at the Norris Center Ticket Office or at lssulakers.com/tickets. Call 906-635-2502 for more information.