Oct. 30, 2007

THIS WEEK: Saint Louis women's basketball hosts Missouri-St. Louis on Friday, Nov. 2, at Scottrade Center in the first of two exhibition contests for the Billikens. Tipoff is slated for 5 p.m. The game is part of a doubleheader, with the men's exhibition game against UMSL following at 7:30 p.m.

FOLLOWING THE ACTION: All home games may be followed live on GameTracker on SLU's official website, www.slubillikens.com. Tickets may be purchased at the gate, on-line at www.slubillikens.com, or by calling the Billiken Ticket Office at (314) 977-4SLU.

SCOUTING MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS: A member of the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Valley Conference, UMSL is guided by first-year head coach Lisa Curliss-Taylor, whose 57-48 record in four seasons as head coach at East Texas Baptist included a 40-14 ledger in the past two campaigns. The Tritons' top returning scorers are senior forward Taylor Gagliano, who averaged 9.7 points per game a year ago, and senior guard Courtney Watts (7.8 ppg). Senior forward Leslie Ricker is the team's top returning rebounder, pulling down 5.3 boards per outing in 2006-07. UMSL was 6-20 overall and 2-17 in the GLVC a year ago.

PLAYING FOR KEEPS: The Billikens open the regular season on Sunday, Nov. 11, against Hampton, with game time at the Bauman-Eberhardt Center set for 2 p.m. Prior to that, Saint Louis hosts Missouri Baptist in an exhibition contest on Wednesday, Nov. 7. Tipoff is at 7 p.m.

HEAD COACH Shimmy Gray-Miller: Third-year head coach Shimmy Gray-Miller has the Billiken program headed in the right direction. Her first SLU squad went just 7-20, but Gray-Miller led the 2006-07 Bills to a 13-17 record that included the program's first conference tournament victory since 2002, a 69-61 win over Richmond. Part of last season's record were nine defeats of nine or fewer points, including a one-point loss to Xavier in the Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinals; two-point losses to Saint Joseph's, Weber State and Miami (Ohio); and a seven-point loss to nationally ranked Arkansas. Gray-Miller is the sixth head coach in Saint Louis women's basketball history and begins 2007-08 with a 20-37 record.

CHAIFETZ ARENA: The new Chaifetz (SHAY-fetz) Arena is slated to open in April 2008. The arena will have a seating capacity of 10,600 and is being built on the SLU campus at the corner of Laclede and Compton avenues. It will function as a true multi-purpose campus events center, hosting a myriad of SLU events including men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball, commencement, cultural events, conferences and conventions. The arena will house the department of athletics' offices as well as a practice facility for the basketball and volleyball teams.

LISCH ON THE LIST: Atlantic 10 Conference head women's basketball coaches and media representatives selected sophomore guard Theresa Lisch (Belleville, Ill./Althoff) to the 2007-08 preseason All-Conference third team. Lisch enjoyed a rookie campaign that saw her lead the Billikens in scoring (15.0 ppg), assists (3.07 apg), steals (1.86 spg) and free-throw percentage (125-of-150, .833) en route to earning a spot on the A-10 All-Rookie team. She was the A-10's second-leading foul shooter, was ranked ninth in the league in scoring and steals and finished 12th in assists. Saint Louis was picked to finish ninth in the conference race.

THEY'RE BACK: Lisch is one of four starters and eight letterwinners returning from last year's team. The senior class is comprised of guards Jackie Gilbert (Jonesboro, Ark./Jonesboro) and Hayley Leake (Silex, Mo./Silex) and forward Heather King (Palos Hills, Ill./Stagg), while forward Jameela Haynes (Miami, Fla./Pace) is the team's lone junior. Lisch is joined in the sophomore class by forward/guard Maggie Hennegan (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Ursula), guard Katie Paganelli (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame), forward Amy Klotz (St. Louis, Mo./Notre Dame) and center Amanda Kemezys (Fairview Heights, Ill./Belleville East).

WELCOME TO THE SHOW: Coach Gray-Miller added two freshmen to the 2007-08 Billiken roster. Forward Hope Elam (Champaign, Ill./Central) averaged 22.6 points and 13 rebounds, garnered a spot on the Illinois All-State third team and was an Illinois Miss Basketball finalist last season. Forward Lauren Woods (Belleville, Ill./Belleville East) averaged 15.8 points and was a fourth-team choice on Illinois Basketball Coaches Association All-State team a year ago.

THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS: Billiken freshmen accounted for 96 of the team's 150 starts last season, which translates into 64 percent. Maggie Hennegan led the way, drawing the starting nod in all 30 contests, while Theresa Lisch started 28 games. Nearly 68 percent of the Bills' scoring was produced by the freshman class.

PAGS TO RICHES: Sophomore guard Katie Paganelli (Cincinnati, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) was the Billikens' third leading scorer last season with 12.3 points per game. Paganelli, who played in all 30 games with 16 starts, led the team with 50 3-pointers and shot 80 percent from the free-throw line.

HENNEGAN, BEGIN AGAIN: Sophomore forward/guard Maggie Hennegan (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Ursula) was the 2006-07 SLU leader in rebounding, cleaning the glass at a 7.4 per-game clip. She was second in the A-10 in offensive rebounding with a 3.23 average. The only Billiken to start every game, Hennegan also led the squad with 17 blocks and was fourth in scoring at 10.5 points per game.

AK-55 HITS THE TARGET: Sophomore center Amanda Kemezys (Fairview Heights, Ill./Belleville East) topped the Saint Louis shooting accuracy chart last season by connecting for a .644 mark. Kemezys, who played in 19 games with 10 starts, averaged 10 points and 5.8 rebounds in her inaugural SLU season.

KLOTZ PLAYED LOTS: Sophomore forward Amy Klotz (St. Louis, Mo./Notre Dame) saw action in 29 games and earned 12 starts as a rookie. She averaged 3.8 points and 2.4 rebounds while collecting 12 blocks and 11 steals.

JACK ON TRACK: Senior guard Jackie Gilbert (Jonesboro, Ark./Jonesboro) played in 25 games and started four last season. She averaged 2.1 points and recorded 12 assists.

LEAKE IS UNIQUE: Senior guard Hayley Leake (Silex, Mo./Silex) played in 24 games with three starts a year ago. She canned 79 percent of her free throws and tallied 30 assists and 11 steals in her junior season.

WAIT `TIL WE GET OUR HAYNES ON YOU: Junior forward Jameela Haynes (Miami, Fla./Pace) played in six games last season and netted two of her three field goal attempts.

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