GUNNISON, Colo. --- The Western Colorado women's basketball team looks to continue to its upward trajectory as a program after making the postseason for the first time since 2012 last season as the Mountaineers open 2019-20 Friday at Western Washington and then travel to Canada to take on Simon Fraser on Saturday night.

MOUNTAINEERS HEADING INTO THE SEASON | 2018-19 SEASON STATS
WCU is coming off a 16-11 campaign in 2018-19, including going 12-10 in the RMAC and picking up the No. 7 seed in the RMAC Tournament - the Mountaineers' first appearance in the postseason in seven years. The team was built on defense as it finished second in the RMAC in points allowed per game (56.8) and led by the now graduated RMAC Defensive Player of the Year in Tammarrah Gothard.

WCU returns eight players from that team - including its top two scorers and five players that started at least 12 games.

Leading scorer Samantha Coleman is back as the junior averaged 11.5 points per game while shooting 40.3 percent from 3-point range (54-for-134) as she played in all 27 games (starting 26) for the Mountaineers and was named All-RMAC Honorable Mention. Jessie Erickson returns as well after starting 26 of 27 games for WCU as she averaged 6.9 points and 4.5 rebounds while she was second on the team in steals (35) and assists (84). Katie Dalton started the first 12 games of the season and was second on the team in scoring at 10.4 points per game and averaged 4.3 rebounds and just under a block per contest for the Mountaineers before an injury sidelined her for the rest of the season. Taytem Coleman started all 17 games she played as a freshman and averaged 6.1 points per game while Jadyn Kanzler played in 26 of the team's 27 games and started 13 - averaging 7.2 points.

Also returning for the Mountaineers is Mikaela Parker (4.4 ppg in 22 games), Payton Paro (2.0 ppg in 21 games) and Courtney Humbarger (played in eight games).

The Mountaineer roster has nine newcomers - three transfers (Anna Weibel - Sacramento State, Gabi O'Connor - Laramie County CC, Gabie Doud - Winona State) and six freshmen (Taycee Harper, Phylicia Bacon, Hannah Cooper, Bailey Torres, Brianna Denton, Keziah Bachert).

The Mountaineers after this weekend play in the CMU Holiday Inn - Airport Thanksgiving Classic in Grand Junction Nov. 29 (versus Montana Western) and Nov. 30 (versus University of the Southwest) - both games starting at noon. After that, WCU enters RMAC play at Colorado School of Mines (Dec. 6) and at UCCS (Dec. 7) before playing their home opener Dec. 13 against Chadron State.

WCU was picked to finish sixth in the RMAC Coaches Preseason Poll.

WESTERN WASHINGTON HEADING INTO THIS WEEK | 2019-20 SEASON STATS
The Vikings head into this week at 2-2 after dropping a pair of close games to ranked opponents in No. 6 UC San Diego (76-68) and to No. 4 Azusa Pacific (77-73). In the loss Friday to UC San Diego, Maddison Coleman came off the bench to lead WWU with 19 points (including five 3-pointers) as after leading 18-12 in the first quarter, the Vikings were outscored by 14 the rest of the way. In the loss to Azusa Pacific, Emma Duff scored 17 points in 19 minutes (including going 4-for-7 from 3-point range).

In their four games, the Vikings have four players averaging double figures in Kelsey Rogers (11.3), Dani Iwami (10.3), Anna Schwecke (10.3) and Katrina Gimmaka (10.0) with Schwecke leading the team in rebounding (6.8 per game) and Iwami leading the team in assists (5.8).

SIMON FRASER HEADING INTO THIS WEEK | 2019-20 SEASON STATS
SFU split a pair of home games last weekend against California State - Los Angeles, winning on Nov. 15 69-63 before falling on Nov. 17 78-77 on a buzzer beater. 

SFU is eight games into its season with Jessica Jones leading the team in scoring at 20.5 points per game (she missed the first four games) to go along with a team-best 15 3-pointers. Tayler Dynan is averaging 12.3 points, 4.5 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game while Ozioma Nwabuko is averaging 12.0 points and a team-best 7.0 rebounds per contest. SFU likes to let it fly from 3-point range as 200 of their 463 shots taken this season have come from beyond the arc.