Winona State Women’s Basketball returned with their first regular season game Friday, Nov. 6 against Quincy University in Quincy, Illinois.

“We put in a new offense that works to everyone’s strengths,” senior Rachel Novotny said. “We have been working hard to get everyone on the same page and making the right reads has been a major focus of ours.”

They have gotten some practice with exhibition games against Iowa State University and Saint Mary’s University. They lost 39-73 against Iowa, but came back to win 81-54 in their home gym on Saturday.

“The two exhibition games we have played have been great,” Novotny said. “The two different opponents had very different playing styles, which has made it fun to play such different opponents so far.”

The team had a successful season last year, making it all the way to the NSIC championship game.

“We do have a majority of the people back from last year which this year will help having more experience than last year,” Novotny said. “This team this year is super competitive which is shown through our energy every day. This will absolutely help us be super successful this year.”

The team has been working together well so far this year.

“Honestly everyone on our team right now has a piece of the puzzle for us,” Novotny said. “They are all going to have a positive impact to help us achieve our goals this season. We have a great group of talented girls that have a ton of potential and are only going to grow as we get more experience as the season progresses.”

Senior Kayla Schaefer and Sophomore Allie Pickrain were the top two scorers on the Warriors in the exhibition win against SMSU with 10 and 16 points, respectively

“We are playing well together and can only improve as the season goes on,” Novotny said.

Their next couple of games will be good practice before they have NSIC conference games starting with Upper Iowa University on Dec. 1st.

“I am honestly looking forward to playing every game and each opponent of ours,” Novotny said. “Coming from the fact that this is my last year, I am feeling excited and blessed to play each and every game.”

The Warriors will be on the road for their next four games, but will return for some action in Winona with their first conference game on December 1st.