It's coming a week later than planned, but it's finally here.
The Lincoln women's basketball team will open the 2020-21 season today against Missouri Southern. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Jason Gym.
The Blue Tigers were slated to host Central Missouri last Saturday, but that game was postponed to Dec. 12 after Lincoln had to be placed in a COVID-19 quarantine.
"The biggest thing for us was just battling the adversity," Lincoln coach Drea Mize said. "Now we're trying to handle court time as well as possible, because we don't want to overwork them and have no gas for Saturday."
Lincoln was able to return to the court earlier this week after a two-week break.
"Repetition, repetition, repetition has been huge for us the last couple of days," Mize said.
The Blue Tigers return three players from last year's team that finished with a 3-25 record.
The leading returner is senior forward Vivian Chigbu, who scored 10.3 points and averaged 7.8 rebounds per game last season.
"She's still getting used to the offensive sets and her role within that unit, but I think the things she did really well last year, she's still going to be able to execute and do well this year," Mize said. "She'll get on the offensive boards and making plays down the stretch when we need them."
Natasha Dolinsky, a senior guard, handled the ball at point guard last season, but she'll move to shooting guard this season. Dolinsky led the Blue Tigers with 29 made 3-pointers last season.
"She'll tell you first-hand she's not a true point guard," Mize said. "We want to look to be able to get her open and get shots up for her."
Virja Lewis, a senior forward, is the third returning player for Lincoln. She averaged 5.6 points per game.
There will be plenty of new faces filling out the rest of the Blue Tiger roster.
"We like an up-and-down pace and really getting after it," Mize said. "As far as the starting five goes, I think it'll be whoever is doing the best in that individual week and gives us the best opportunity to set up to play and to win."
Running the point will be junior Haylie Holloway, sophomore Niyah Jackson and freshman AJ Bradley.
"I love to play two point-guard systems because I think you can get the ball out and go quicker," Mize said.
Holloway was a point guard for two seasons under Mize at College of Central Florida, averaging 4.3 assists per game last season.
"She is the floor general, she understands exactly what we want to do," Mize said. "She's still coming off a PCL injury, so she'll be limited the first couple of games."
Jackson is another transfer from College of Central Florida, finishing second on the team last season with 11.7 points per game.
"She'll get a majority of the reps there," Mize said. "She's just a quick, feisty point guard."
Joining Dolinsky at shooting guard are junior Joseline Ramos, junior Kiara Cadore and junior Deija Jackson, another transfer from College of Central Florida.
Ramos played against Mize last season, leading Florida State-Jacksonville with 9.4 points per game.
"She's just really good at creating her own shot and being a team player, rising to challenges," Mize said.
Deija Jackson and freshman Aliyah Bello can play both the three and the four for the Blue Tigers, who will run a stretch four system.
"They both stretch the floor out and are able to get to the rim," Mize said.
The fourth transfer to follow Mize from College of Central Florida is sophomore Ashtin Ingram, a 6-foot-3 forward who is coming off an ACL injury and will be limited early in the season.
"She has a great defensive presence on the opposite end," Mize said. "She's able to just block shots and be really active in the paint."
Junior Simone Jordan will also play forward for the Blue Tigers. Jordan averaged 14.2 points and 9.4 rebounds last season at Southwestern (Iowa).
Junior center Criss Waters and sophomore guard My Milligan round out the Lincoln roster.
Three players will miss today's game either due to injury or quarantine, but Mize is hopeful to have the roster back to full strength in the coming weeks.
"You'll see a lot of the freshmen early and get to see the direction we plan to take the program," Mize said.
Missouri Southern (0-3) is coming off a 78-52 loss to Central Missouri. Freshman guard Kaitlin Hunnicutt averages 12.7 points for the Lions, while senior guard/forward Carley Turnbull is at 12.3 points per game through three games.
"I think it's a really good first matchup for us," Mize said.
Mize said the energy on defense has been contagious this preseason. Lincoln is looking to use that to transfer to the offensive end, as the Blue Tigers only averaged 57.8 points per game last season.
"I don't know if we have all the answers offensively quite yet, but I do know that we're in sets that are going to make us successful," Mize said.