Fort Collins, Colo. – The Le Moyne women’s basketball team will open the 2023-24 campaign with two games in Colorado. The Dolphins will play at Colorado State University on Monday at 7:30 PM ET/5:30 PM MT, then they will take on the University of Colorado Buffaloes on Wednesday at 6:00 PM Mountain Time at the CU Events Center.
Monday’s game at Colorado State can be streamed on the Mountain West Network, and Thursday’s matchup against the Buffaloes can be streamed on pac-12.com.
Both games will be broadcast on FOX Sports Radio in Syracuse.
Le Moyne, sent to embark on its first season as a Division I member of the Northeast Conference, will play 11 non-conference road contests in 2023-24, including games against USC, VCU, Colgate, University at Buffalo, and University of Pittsburgh.
The Dolphins are coming off back-to-back Northeast-10 Conference Regular Season Championships and consecutive appearances in the Division II NCAA Championships.
During Le Moyne’s final season in the NE10 in 2022-23, the Dolphins won 16 of their final 17 regular season games, including 11 straight conference games and set program records for most road wins (10) and longest road winning streak (eight games).
Le Moyne head coach Mary Grimes, who was named Northeast-10 Conference Coach of the Year in 2022-23, will begin her third season as the program’s leader
The Dolphins return eight players from the 2022-23 squad, including four players who started all 28 games, and one player who started 19 games.
Lytota Baker received numerous accolades in 2022-23, including NE10 Defensive Player of the Year, NE10 All-Conference First Team, First Team All-Region and WBCA NCAA DII Coaches All-America Honorable Mention. Baker’s 10.7 rebounds per game average last season is the third-highest single season rebounding average in
program history. She set a single season program record with 204 defensive rebounds during the campaign.
Haedyn Roberts was named to the NE10 All-Conference Third Team last season, while graduate guard Sydney Lusher received the 2022-23 NE10 Rookie of the Year Award, and was joined by Kaia Goode on the conference’s All-Rookie Team.
Goode set a Le Moyne program record for most steals in a single season by a freshman (64), while Sierra Linnin recorded the most threes made by a Le Moyne freshman in a single season with 63 triples.
Emily Florvil returns for her junior season after finishing third on the team in offensive rebounds and fourth in steals last year, while Michelina Lombardi and Tamiya Turner will begin their sophomore campaigns this season after playing a combined 264 minutes last winter.
The Dolphins will benefit from the addition of five players this year, including first-year players Zhara Adeyemi (Brooklyn, N.Y./South Shore), Sydney Postell (Churchville, N.Y./Churchville-Chili), and Leah Middleton (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn), along with graduate forward Kaitlyn Walker (Camillus, N.Y./West Genesee/Onondaga C.C./St. John Fisher) and junior forward Brianna Williams (Brampton, Ontario/Southwest Academy/Hartford).
The Dolphins were picked to finish eighth in the NEC Preseason Coaches Poll.
Colorado State, which went 20-12 last season, including 12-6 in the Mountain West Conference, is led by head coach Ryun Williams, who is set to begin his 12th season at the helm of the program.
The Rams return 11 players from their 2022-23 squad, including graduate guard McKenna Hofschild, who averaged 20.6 points, 7.2 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 37.4 minutes per game last season on her way to being named Mountain West Player of the Year and earning All-America Honorable Mention accolades.
Prior to this season, Hofschild was named to the 2023-24 All-Mountain West Preseason Team and picked as the Preseason Player of the Year. She was also named to the Nancy Lieberman Award Preseason Watch List and the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Preseason Watch List.
The Rams were picked to finish second in the Mountain West preseason poll.
The Colorado Buffaloes, ranked 20th in the AP Preseason Top 25 Poll, will begin the season with a matchup against #1 LSU in Las Vegas on Monday evening.
Colorado, led by head coach JR Payne, went 25-9 last season, including 13-5 in the Pac-12 and won two NCAA Tournament games before falling to Iowa in the Sweet 16.
Colorado graduate students Jaylyn Sherrod and Quay Miller were two of 50 players named to the 2024 Naismith Women’s Player of the Year Watchlist.
Sherrod, who was also named to the 2024 Lieberman Award Watchlist, averaged 11.3 points, 5.1 assists, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.4 steals in 28.9 minutes per game for the Buffs last season.
Quay started all 34 games for Colorado in 2022-23 with averages of 13.1 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 31.6 minutes.
The Buffs were picked to finish fourth in the Pac-12 Preseason Coaches and Media Polls.
Monday will mark the first-ever meeting between Le Moyne and Colorado State in women’s basketball, and Wednesday will be the first-ever game between Le Moyne and the University of Colorado.