THIS WEEKEND IN PEACOCK WOMEN'S BASKETBALL… The Peacock women's basketball team is hosting the MIAA/NSIC Tournament to tip off the 2017-18 season. Upper Iowa will welcome fellow NSIC-member Southwest Minnesota State University, as well as MIAA-members Missouri Western State University and Fort Hays State University to Prochaska Court and Dorman Gymnasium. The MIAA/NSIC Tournament started four seasons ago kicking off the 2014-15 season and has now come full circle with each of the teams hosting one of the weekends.
 
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE… Friday's double-header will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a game between the Griffons of Missouri Western State and the Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State and conclude with a matchup between the Tigers of Fort Hays State and the Peacocks. On Saturday, the action tips off at 2:30 p.m. with a game between the Mustangs and Tigers and will wrap up when the Griffons and Peacocks line up against each other at 5 p.m.
 
LIVE OPTIONS… All four games will have two forms of live coverage. Each game will be webcast on Upper Iowa's video portal at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/uiu. In addition, live stats are available for each game at http://www.sidearmstats.com/uiu/wbball.
 
PREVIEWING THE TEAMS…
 
Upper Iowa - Upper Iowa was selected fifteenth in the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll and junior Blair Klostermann was named as UIU's NSIC Player to Watch. The junior heads into her second year as a Peacock. Klostermann earned an All-NSIC First Team selection last season after scoring 19.1 points per conference game finishing highest among all NSIC scorers. The Dyersville, Iowa product scored 382 points for the Peacocks while playing in and starting 20 of the 22 conference games; her first season at Upper Iowa ended due to an injury at home in the team's upset win over Concordia University, St. Paul. UIU's star guard shot 39.9% from the floor including 36.7% from three and 84.8% of her free throws. Klostermann added 5.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.1 steals per conference game as well. Klostermann scored a career-high 34 points at home against Wayne State College and netted 30 points in a road win at Southwest Minnesota State University.
 
In addition to Klostermann, the Peacocks will return senior Ashley Ray, juniors Haley Martin and Ashley Rosenstiel, as well as sophomore Bekka Pierson to the court for the 2017-18 season. A wealth of newcomers are also poised to take their place on the court for Upper Iowa including five freshman, three transfers and a player that transferred to UIU prior to last season, but had to redshirt due to injury. Micha Thompson enters her second year with the program after having served as an assistant coach with the basketball program at Utah State University, a NCAA Division I member of the Mountain West Conference in Logan, Utah for the previous four years.
 
Southwest Minnesota State - The Southwest Minnesota State University women's basketball team was picked to finish twelfth overall and seventh in the South Division in the annual Northern Sun Preseason Coaches' Poll. Mustang senior forward, Lauren Hedlund, was again named an NSIC "Player to Watch" in the preseason Coaches' Poll. Hedlund begins season just 17 points shy of becoming the 19th player in the SMSU Women's Basketball 1,000 point club. Hedlund ranks seventh in Mustang history in career rebounds per game (7.1) and is second all-time in offensive rebounds per game (3.0). Her 93 offensive rebounds last season was the seventh most for a single season in SMSU history.
 
The 2017-18 season marks the second year of the Tom Webb era for SMSU women's basketball, as the Mustangs will look to improve on a 3-24 season in 2016-17. The roster features 15 total players including a total of seven true freshman. In addition to Hedlund, this year's returners include senior forward, Taylor Holicky, who started also started all 27 games in the Mustangs' front court alongside Hedlund last year. Holicky averaged career highs in minutes per game (28.3), rebounds per game (7.7), and points per game (9.1) in her first season as a starter last season. Sophomore, Caleigh Rodning, is a third returning player to the Mustangs' front court coming off of a season in which she was named to the NSIC All-Freshman team after averaging 13.7 points per game and 7.8 rebounds per game a season ago. Rodning led SMSU in scoring 13 times last year and had a streak of eight consecutive double-doubles.
 
Missouri Western State - Coming off back-to-back 20-win seasons, the Missouri Western women's basketball team was picked sixth in the MIAA Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Griffons received 106 total points, just four behind Fort Hays State for fifth in the poll.
 
Missouri Western finished in a tie for fourth in the final regular season standings last season, going 21-8 overall and 13-6 in MIAA play. The 2017-18 Griffons will feature a host of new faces. Three letter winners from last year's team return with nine newcomers to Rob Edmisson's sixth MWSU team.
Erin Anderson is the team's top returning point scorer, averaging 6.5 points per game last season. Savannah Lentz averaged 6.1 points per game last year and Melia Richardson returns after averaging 5.8 points per game in 2016-17.
 
Through his first five seasons, Head Coach Rob Edmisson has led the Griffons to an 89-52 mark. In 2015-16, Missouri Western claimed the MIAA regular season championship and advanced to the NCAA Central Region tournament, finishing the year 27-4 overall. Last season, Edmisson led Missouri Western to a 21-8 overall record.
 
Fort Hays State - Fort Hays State was picked to finish fifth this season in the MIAA Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Tigers are coming off another strong season last year, winning 22 games to extend a program-record six consecutive 20-win seasons. FHSU returns nine players from last year's roster, including two All-MIAA performers and five players who started at least five contests. This year's team may appear young on paper, with just one senior and three juniors in the lineup, but all nine returners bring in significant in-game experience. The six sophomores all appeared in at least 11 contests last season, while averaging nearly 25 points per game as a class in their freshman season.
 
Juniors Carly Heim and Tatyana Legette are two of the top returners for FHSU this season after both earned honorable mention All-MIAA accolades a year ago. Legette led the team with 7.6 rebounds per game last year and finished second in scoring with 9.6 points each night. Heim recorded 7.8 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists per contest last year while knocking down 48.1 percent of her shots from the floor.
 
Head coach Tony Hobson brought in four talented newcomers to compliment his group of returners, including one transfer and three freshman. Hobson enters his 10th year as head coach at Fort Hays State University and 26th year overall. He is 179-85 in his time in Hays, Kan. and 592-191 all-time as a collegiate head coach, just eight wins away from 600 career wins.