STEVENS POINT - Head Coach Shirley Egner and the Pointers look to improve as the season progresses and hope to contend for another Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship for the 2009-10 season. The team will rely on returning players to help aid the newcomers in overcoming the early growing pains of playing in the tough WIAC.

The Pointers are coming off WIAC regular season and tournament championships, which resulted in a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Div. III Tournament but Coach Egner knows this season might be a little different after four key contributors from last season's team were lost to graduation this past offseason.

The Pointers enter the season ranked 23rd in the D3hoops.com preseason poll and are picked to win the WIAC in a vote by the conference sports information directors.

Leading scorer Britta Petersen (Luck) returns for her junior season after being named First-Team All-WIAC. Petersen averaged 14.2 points and just over one block per game. Andrea Flease (New London) and Cassie Bandow (Plover) hope to make a bigger impact after having successful 2008-09 campaigns. As a freshman last season, Bandow averaged over 24 minutes per game and finished fourth on the team in scoring. Flease finished second on the team in assists, averaging 2.4 per game.

UW-Stevens Point has just one senior on this year's roster as Ashley Windt (Hurley), who did not play last year due to injury, hopes to make an impact on this year's team.

Sophomore Ashley Averkamp (New Berlin) transfers from Edgewood College and will add an inside presence to compliment Petersen. For Edgewood last season, Averkamp averaged 10 points and four rebounds, including a career high 25 points against the Pointers on December 30.

Sophomore Whitney Verdegan (Glen Flora) returns for her sophomore season after appearing in 17 games last season. Junior Christin Coles (Hustisford) hopes to improve on last season's numbers after averaging 3.7 points per game in 28 games.

Brittni Buechel (St. Cloud) was a two sport athlete last season, participating on the hardwood and the soccer field. This season Buechel is solely focusing on basketball and hopes to improve on her freshman season numbers.

The Pointers bring in seven freshmen to help this year's returners. Freshmen Josi Schultz (Eau Claire), Liz Althoff (Darien), Kristin Verhagen (Appleton), Brooke Allen (Barneveld), Jessica O'Connor (Belleville), Kim Maedke (Oconto Falls), and Claire Glodowski (Amherst) hope to add to the winning tradition of women's basketball at UW-Stevens Point.

Diane Hawkins joins the Pointers coaching staff after serving as a graduate assistant for Edgewood College. For more information on Hawkins, click here.

The Pointers begin the 2009-10 season when they travel to La Crosse to take on Viterbo University on Tuesday, Nov. 17. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.