It was a bit of a rocky start for Ayana McWilliams in her first year as a head coach.
The Lincoln women's basketball team posted a 5-21 record during the 2016-17 season, managing only one win in the team's first 12 games.
"I had higher expectations coming in, but it was a very humbling experience," McWilliams said. "Overall, I'm very pleased with the direction we're moving to. I'm looking to capitalize and take another step forward this year."
Year Two begins today at the Lindenwood Classic when Lincoln faces Arkansas-Monticello. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m.
Lincoln lost its top five scorers from last season, including Hunter Yoakum, who finished her career second on the Blue Tigers' all-time scoring list with 1,214 points.
Lincoln adds four freshmen and five junior college transfers to its roster of five returning players, including two starters.
"We focused a lot on building connections and relationships in the offseason," McWilliams said. "This group, with the returners I have coming back, provides a lot of leadership and it allowed the new people to come in and have that guidance."
Among the returners is senior Citlali Lopez, who will play point guard for the Blue Tigers. McWilliams said freshmen Faith Brintle and Charnai Anderson will share time with her at the position.
Much like last year, Lincoln will go with four guards and one forward on the court.
"All of our guards are going to be interchangeable," McWilliams said. " We have a lot of kids who can do a lot of things. Their skill sets are all one in the same. We can shoot the three ball, we can drive, we can get to the hoop."
Joining Lopez as a returning starter is Tempary Gunter, a former standout at Tuscumbia High School who averaged 3.8 points per game in 15 starts last season.
Lincoln returns three more guards with seniors Tyler Brown-Henderson and Kailey Foster and junior Namoi Bryant.
"They're the key to keeping it all together," McWilliams said of the returning players. "They know what I expect, so it's easier for them to relay that to the new people. Everybody's pulling their weight."
McWilliams noted newcomers Karissa Black and Davenport Brantley have shot the ball well during the preseason.
The Blue Tigers also added plenty of height to the roster during the offseason.
Alecia Kaelke, who signed with Lincoln during last November's early signing period, is a 6-foot-3 freshman center who averaged 17.0 points and 9.3 rebounds last season at Osakis, Minn.
The Blue Tigers also picked up a pair of 6-2 forwards in Robin Butler and Bre Coleman, both junior college transfers. Butler averaged 7.9 points and 6.4 rebounds at Central Arizona, while Coleman had 7.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in one season at Blinn Junior College.
McWilliams said an improvement in rebounding has been a key emphasis this preseason. The Blue Tigers were outrebounded by opponents by an average of 12 boards per game.
"We want them to get in there, clog up a lot of space on the defensive side and rebound," McWilliams said. "It's good to have bigs inside that are versatile. They get up and down the floor quickly, they can defend.
"We needed that length. We didn't have a lot of length last year."
Rounding out the roster is Amber Braxton, a 6-0 forward transfer from State Fair Community College, and Lajanea Kimbrough, a 5-10 guard/forward transfer from Eastern Arizona.
McWilliams said she'll continue to move players in and out of games. Only two players averaged more than 26 minutes on the court per game last season.
"If we can play at the tempo we want to play on both sides of the basketball, you can expect to see a lot of the names on the roster," she said.
Lincoln already has an exhibition game in the books, beating NCAA Division III Westminster 60-50 last Friday in Fulton. The Blue Tigers have two more exhibition games on the schedule: one at Bradley on Wednesday, the other at UMKC next month.
"It's a good experience for the kids," McWilliams said. "I tell them every day, we're not preparing for the exhibitions or the scrimmages we have. We're preparing to be playing in March. Playing teams like that in the midst of everything allows us to see if we can rise to the occasion and step up our level of play."
Lincoln was picked to finish last in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association preseason poll. The Blue Tigers tied for 12th last season with a 4-15 record, which included a season sweep of Lindenwood.
"As a coach, I was a little disappointed because we did have some bright moments last season, and we are moving in the right direction," McWilliams said. "But again, it's nothing that's going to deter me from my goal of what I'm trying to do here, and it's nothing we've paid attention to since they posted it."
Lincoln will play three nonconference home games this month, opening the home slate at Jason Gym next Tuesday against Missouri S&T.
In this weekend's pair of games at Lindenwood - Lincoln will face Southern Arkansas on Saturday to close out the Classic - McWilliams said she wants to see her team play more even-keeled with fewer ups and downs than see saw against Westminster.
"I just want our best effort every night," she said. " If we put everything on the floor and we still come up short, we have to get back to the drawing board and move forward together. That's one of my focuses. If we can do that, we'll be a little more successful."