Mankato, Minn. --- The Minnesota State women's basketball team will travel down to St. Louis, Mo. this weekend, to take part in the University Missouri-St. Louis Classic (UMSL). The Mavericks will play a pair games as they will take on Maryville on Friday at 5 p.m., before they turn their attention to UMSL on Saturday at 3 p.m.

The Mavericks began their season on a winning note as they played host to a pair of nonconference opponents in #20 Central Missouri and Metropolitan State. On Friday against UCM, the Mavericks defeated the Jennies by the score of 70-68, after a game winning basket from senior guard Ashley Olson with 0.06 seconds left on the clock. Then on Saturday, MSU defeated MSU Denver by the score of 84-62, as the Mavericks hit 10 three-pointers and forced 23 Roadrunner turnovers in the game.

Scouting the Saints: The Maryville Saints, located out of St. Louis, Mo., are a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). This will mark the first meeting between the two schools in program history. 

The Saints are coached by Chris Ellis, who is entering his 14th season at the job. Last year, Maryville finished with 20-12 overall record and a 10-8 GLVC conference record. 

Maryville returns four of its top five scorers from a year ago, including first-team All-GLVC member, Shelby Miller. The senior guard averaged 15.4 points, 5.1 rebounds a game, to go along with her 98 assists last season. Manning the paint down low is junior center Alex Hillyer, who averaged 12 points and 4.8 rebounds a year ago.

This year, Maryville is 1-0 on the short season, as it defeated Culver-Stockton 97-73.  Miller and Hillyer led the way for the Saints as Miller posted 14 points, three steals, three assists, and two rebounds, while Hillyer finished the game with 15 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two assists.

Scouting the Titans: Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL), located in St. Louis, Mo., is a Division II school that is a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). This game will mark the first ever meeting between the two schools in program history.
 
The Titans are coached by Katie Vaughn, who is entering her third season at the helm. Last year the Titans went 13-5  in the GLVC conference and finished with a 21-8 overall record which was good enough to make it to the first round of the NCAA Tournament. 

UMSL lost two All-GLVC players from a year ago due to graduation but the Titans do return a couple key contributor's from last year's squad. Senior guard Alexis Lawrence started all 29 games a year ago, as she averaged 10.1 points a game while connecting on 63 three-pointers at a 38.9% clip. The Titans also return a key bench player form last year's team in  Tierra Snow who averaged 7.3 points and 4.2 rebounds a game last season.

So far this year, UMSL is 1-1 on the year, as they took part in the Puerto Rico Classic. Down there, the Titans fell to UPR-Bayamon before defeating UPR-Rio Piedras. After two games, Lawrence is leading the way as she is averaging a team-high 14.5 points per game and is shooting 50% (7-14) from behind the arc.

After Week One: Senior guard Aubrey Davis currently ranks ninth in the NSIC with points per game, as she is averaging 15 a clip. The senior guard also ranks second in the NSIC in three-point field goal percentage (.667) and in total steals (8). Senior guard Ashley Olson also finds herself in the top-10 of the NSIC in total steals as she ranks third with seven.  

Inching Closer and Closer: Senior guard Aubrey Davis posted 30 points this weekend, which now puts her just 65 points from the 1,000 career mark.