TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Northeastern State opens the regular season with two contests at the D2CCA Tip-off Classic, hosted by West Texas A&M, facing No. 19 Tampa tonight at 6:45 p.m. and New Mexico Highlands on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Both contests will be streamed on FloSports.

A Quick Look Back
NSU started the season in exhibition play against Kansas on Oct. 22 in Allen Fieldhouse. McKenzie Smith led the RiverHawks with 13 points in the contest, while sinking five of six field goal attempts. True freshman Kate Datel was a strong contributor off the bench, reaching double figures with 12 points in 17 minutes against the Jayhawks. E'Niyah Holmes led the team with six rebounds in her first appearance as a RiverHawk, while Reese Shirey paced the defense with three of the team's six steals.

Scouting Tampa
The Spartans are led by Tom Jessee, who has led the program to 15 NCAA tournament appearances and has spent over 30 seasons as a collegiate head coach, including time spent at his alma mater, Bluefield State. Tampa was picked second in the Sunshine State Conference (SSC) preseason coaches poll, receiving three first-place votes. The team appeared in the first WBCA NCAA Division II poll in the No. 19 ranking.

The Spartans return six of the team's top eight scorers from last season's 19-win team, which led the SSC in field goal percentage (48.8%) and three-point percentage (39.8%) and held opponents to the lowest per-game scoring average (56.5 points per game) and field goal percentage (35.9%) last season.

The team's returners include Ryan Franklin, an SSC All-Conference First Team selection from the previous season. Franklin previously played at Missouri Southern, where she was the MIAA's Freshman of the Year for the 2023-24 season. In her first season with the Spartans, she averaged 15.9 points and 7.6 rebounds across 23.7 minutes per game. In three games against NSU across her playing career, Franklin has averaged 16.7 points and six rebounds per game, highlighted by a 23-point, eight-rebound performance on Jan. 24, 2024.

Giorgia Palmieri also returns after receiving All-SSC Third Team honors a season ago. Palmieri finished third on the team in scoring and rebounding with 9.9 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, while she led the team and finished third in the SSC in assists per game (4.9).

Series History
Tonight's contest will be the second meeting in the all-time series, with NSU claiming the first meeting (64-49) on Nov. 24, 1989 in Tampa.

Scouting New Mexico Highlands
New Mexico Highlands opens the season against Angelo State this afternoon before turning its attention to NSU on Saturday. The Cowgirls enter off two straight 13-14 seasons, part of a program turnaround after winning just 21 games across six seasons from 2014-20. The Cowgirls were picked eighth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), receiving one third-place vote.

The team enters its third season under the direction of Lindsey Fearing, who previously served as an assistant at New Mexico Highlands from 2023-24 and spent four seasons as the head coach at Central Wyoming College (2018-22).

Kapiolani Anitielu and Aniya Johnson were both Preseason All-RMAC selections. Anitielu was previously an All-RMAC Second Team pick last year after leading the team in scoring (16.4 PPG) and rebounding (6.3 RPG) across 16 games, while Johnson finished second in scoring (12.8 PPG) and rebounding (5.0 RPG) and led the Cowgirls in blocks (16).

Kamalani Anitielu also returns at the guard spot after being the lone player to start all 27 games last season. Anitielu finished fourth in scoring (10.1 PPG) and led the team in three-pointers made (45), while finishing second in total assists (69).

Series History
Saturday marks the first-ever meeting between the programs in women's basketball.

Up Next
The RiverHawks open their home schedule with participation in the MIAA/GAC Challenge from Nov. 13-14, starting with Southwestern Oklahoma State at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 13.