Bismarck, ND—After a three game exhibition tour, the University of Mary women's basketball team makes their regular season debut on Saturday as they host South Dakota School of Mines and Technology at 6 p.m.
 
Last weekend U-Mary finished a three-game exhibition tour against Division I NAIA Elite Eight participants Westminster College, WNIT runner-ups Utah and Big Sky opponent Idaho State.
 
The Marauders dropped all three games, but had positives to take from each game. Against Westminster Hannah Larson finished with 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Despite facing a front line with forwards towering at 6-4 and 6-5 against Utah, Linda Murray scored a team-high 14 points on 7-for-9 shooting. Sophomore Brittney Dietz was in double figures in scoring in each of the three games.
 
In each of the three-games, the Marauders started the same line-up, with only one player returning from last year's starting rotation. The five players gained their first opportunity to play together, with Saturday's projected line-up to be their first live action together.  
 
Projected Starting Line-up:
 
#13 Lindsey Sand
#24 McKenzie Foster
#42 Brittney Dietz
#23 Hannah Larson
#34 Linda Murray
 
Sand, who averages 18.4 minutes over three her seasons, will be making her first career start. Larson, a Bismarck native, will also be making her first career start in the first game of her career. McKenzie Foster started all but one game for the Marauders last season. Named to the NSIC All-Freshman team last season, Dietz will make the move to the starting line-up this season. A 2011-12 All-NSIC performer, Murray will round out the starting line-up after missing last season due to injury.
 
Transfers Ashlee Harper, Alliya Pinckney, Sudan Saunders and Sloan Turner each played significant minutes in exhibition action and will be key members of the rotation.
 
South Dakota Mines
 
Under the direction of first year Head Coach Ryan Larsen, the Hardrockers will be playing in their first season as full members of NCAA Division II. SDSMT will have big holes to fill as they lost their top three scorers who accounted for over half of the team's scoring. Despite the losses, South Dakota Mines will have experience as they return two starters in Alexis Long and Renae Waters. Long, a 5-7 guard, is the leading returning scorer at 8.4 points per game and will set the tempo for the Hardrockers. A 6-0 post, Waters averages 4.4 points and 3.1 rebounds last season.
 
Up Next
 
With a total of four players hailing from the Golden State, U-Mary will take a trip to California next weekend as it takes on NAIA opponents Vanguard University and Biola University.