2022-23 #HLWBB Season Preview

November 07

Rachel White

#HLWBB Standings | #HLWBB Statistics | #HLWBB Weekly Notebook
INDIANAPOLIS – The 2022-23 basketball season begins this week for all 11 #HLWBB teams.

#HLWBB NEWS & NOTES

In the preseason College Insider Women’s Mid-Major Top 25 poll, Youngstown State ranked No. 10 while Green Bay ranked No. 16 and Cleveland State received votes.
The Penguins won the school's first regular-season conference title in 23 years last season as it shared the Horizon League crown with IUPUI. Five players return who started at least 20 games last season. Lilly Ritz is a Preseason All-Horizon League First Team selection after ranking among the top three in the conference in scoring, rebounding, field-goal percentage, double-doubles and steals in 2021-22.
Green Bay’s Hailey Oskey earned Preseason All-League First Team honors. Oskey earned All-League First Team honors in 2021-22 as she led the Phoenix with 12.5 points per game. Last season, Green Bay had incredible success at the charity stripe. Four Phoenix players (Min. 13 attempts) had a free-throw percentage of 84.6-percent or higher. That success helped GB finish ninth in the nation in free-throw percentage last year (78.6-percent).
Cleveland State returns nine letterwinners from last season's #HLWBB Championship appearance squad, including All-Tournament Team honorees Destiny Leo and Gabriella Smith. Leo was selected the Preseason Player of the Year after she led the League with 18.7 points per game and 2.5 3-point field goals per game while shooting 43.7 percent from the floor, including a League-best 39 percent from 3-point range last season.
Northern Kentucky posted two student-athletes on the Preseason All-League Teams, Lindsey Duvall on the First Team and Ivy Turner on the Second Team. Duvall averaged 16.5 points per game with 7.3 rebounds for the Norse and was voted to the All-League Second Team in 2021-22. Turner averaged 13.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 3.9 assists during the 2021-22 campaign.
Milwaukee’s Megan Walstad was named to the Preseason All-Horizon League First Team following another impressive campaign in 2021-22. Walstad dominated down low, earning her second straight First Team All-League award last season. She led the team and was among the league's leaders in points per game (14.4), rebounds per game (9.1), field goal percentage (48.8), free throw percentage (88.9), and blocks per game (1.5). Walstad was also named to the All-Defensive Team for the second straight year. Additionally, Walstad was one of 25 players to be named to the 2022 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year preseason Watch List.
Head coach Kate Bruce enters her first season with the Jaguars with a new staff and several new faces. She brought on Johnny Montello (Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator), Kortney Dunbar (Assistant Coach), China Dow (Assistant Coach) and Hannah Blake (Director of Basketball Operations) to aid her in continuing the Jaguars' success. IUPUI finished on top of the Horizon League last season sealing the 2022 KEEPS Horizon League Championship title with a win over Cleveland State in the championship game, 61-54. The Jags then moved onto the NCAA Tournament falling just short to Oklahoma in the opening round, 78-72. Before tipoff on Monday, the 2021-22 Jaguars will be presented their championship rings in a celebration of their achievements.
Oakland Golden Grizzlies senior guard Breanne Beatty received Preseason Second Team All-Horizon League recognition. Beatty averaged 9.7 points and five rebounds in 2021-22 and was named to the #HLWBB All-Tournament Team.
Purdue Fort Wayne women's basketball senior Shayla Sellers was named to the Preseason All-Horizon League Second Team. Sellers was an All-Horizon League Third Team selection in the 2021-2022 season. She has steadily improved in her time in Fort Wayne, boosting her scoring average from 4.3 to 10.8 points per game from her freshman to junior seasons. Sellers also improved her shooting percentages from 32.4 percent and 27.5 (3-point) percent as a freshman to 39.8 percent and 36.2 (3-point) percent as a junior. Her rebounding average was also up in 2021-22, jumping up to 4.8 boards per game. Last season, she shot a career-best 90.2 percent from the free-throw line.
RMU is returning two starters (Sol Castro, Alejandra Mastral) from the 2021-22 season. Castro led the team in a few categories last season. She was #1 in FG % (.419), averaged 5.4 rebounds per game and totaled 17 blocks on the team. She was also second in points per game with 8.6. Castro was one of two Colonials to start in each of RMU's 28 games last season. In her 45 career games, she's produced an average of 9.1 points per game and 5.4 caroms per contest while converting 43.3 percent (177-for-409) of her shots from the field. Mastral started last season as a freshman playing point guard. She averaged 3.9 points per game.
Wright State’s roster features 12 newcomers, including five upperclassmen transfers and seven freshmen. The five upperclassmen transfers bring a wealth of experience to the Raiders with a combined 370 games of collegiate basketball, including 156 starts. Bryce Nixon played in 33 games as a freshman at Arizona, the third-most by a first-year player in program history.
Kate Achter was named the 14th women's basketball head coach at Detroit Mercy on April 27, 2022. Achter was an All-American student-athlete at Bowling Green and has coached at Loyola Chicago, St. Bonaventure and Xavier.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Monday, Nov. 7
Wright State at Toledo, 11 a.m. ET (ESPN3)
RMU vs. Saint Francis, 11 a.m. ET (ESPN+)
Cleveland State at Iowa State, Noon (ESPN+)
IUPUI vs. UIC, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Purdue Fort Wayne vs. Goshen, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN3)
Green Bay at Drake, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN3)
Youngstown State vs. Wofford, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN3)
Detroit Mercy at North Dakota, 7 p.m. ET
Oakland vs. Akron, 8 p.m. ET
Milwaukee vs. Wisconsin, 8:30 p.m. ET

Thursday, Nov. 10
Detroit Mercy at Xavier, 7 p.m. ET
Purdue Fort Wayne at Michigan State, 7 p.m. ET
Northern Kentucky vs. Lipscomb, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
IUPUI at Louisville, 7 p.m. ET
RMU vs. George Mason, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Milwaukee vs. Loyola Chicago, 8 p.m. ET

Saturday, Nov. 12
Cleveland State vs. Hofstra, 12:30 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Oakland vs. Central Michigan, 2 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Green Bay vs. Marist, 2 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
RMU vs. Waynesburg, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN+)

Sunday, Nov. 13
Detroit Mercy vs. Canisius, 1 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
Northern Kentucky at Kent State, 2 p.m. ET (ESPN3)
Purdue Fort Wayne vs. Bellarmine, 2 p.m. ET (ESPN+)
IUPUI at Butler, 2 p.m. ET
Milwaukee at Marquette, 3 p.m. ET

Monday, Nov. 14
Wright State at Bowling Green, 7 p.m. ET
RMU vs. Wheeling, 7 p.m. ET

Tuesday, Nov. 15
Oakland at Michigan State, 7 p.m. ET
Youngstown State at Penn State, 7 p.m. ET
Cleveland State at DePaul, 7 p.m. ET