Erie, Pa.—The Mercyhurst Women's Basketball team will tip off their season in the newly-renovated Mercyhurst Athletic Center when they host the PSAC vs. MEC Challenge this weekend.
As part of the challenge, the Lakers will play the University of Charleston Saturday at 5:30 p.m. and West Liberty University Sunday at 5 p.m. Saturday's game will be broadcast locally on the CW Network.
The Matchups
The Lakers and University of Charleston have met three times, with their first meeting taking place in 1999. Mercyhurst is 1-2 against the Golden Eagles, and suffered a 72-57 loss the last time the two met on Nov. 9, 2019.
Mercyhurst has played the Hilltoppers nine times dating back to 1997. The Lakers are 2-7 against West Liberty and lost their last meeting, 92-79, on Nov. 8, 2019.
Investing in the Future
After leading the women's basketball team to 11 wins last season, the most wins in a season for the team since the 2016-17 season, Mercyhurst Athletics announced a contract extension in June for Head Coach Brooklyn Kohlheim, who enters her third season with the Lakers. She will be joined once again by Brenna Heise, who enters her second year on the staff. In August, the team announced that Taylor Jackson would join the staff as a graduate assistant coach.
Preseason Predictions
The PSAC West's Head Coaches voted Mercyhurst to finish in fourth place in the division in the 2021-22 PSAC Women's Basketball Preseason Poll. Gannon, IUP and Cal were selected to finish first through third, respectively. Despite the fourth-place ranking, the Lakers did receive one of nine first-place votes.
Coming to a TV Screen Near You
In October, Mercyhurst University and Lilly Broadcasting announced the scheduling of six broadcasts of men's and women's basketball games.
The women's basketball team's season opener against the University of Charleston will be featured, as well as their halves of men's and women's doubleheaders being played Feb. 9 against Gannon and Feb. 19 against Edinboro.
The games will be produced through Mercyhurst University and will be able to be viewed on the CW Network (Spectrum: Channel 3 or 1003, Dish Network: Channel 3 or 7048, DirecTV: Channel 36, and 35.2 over the air).
Lilly Broadcasting viewers reach the tri-state area with Erie County, Crawford County and Warren County being the primary viewing areas. Fans outside of the televised area will still be able to view the game on the Mercyhurst Sports Network.
Scouting the Golden Eagles
The University of Charleston represented the MEC well a season ago, winning the school's first MEC Tournament championship before becoming the first MEC team to win the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Tournament. The Golden Eagles advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2006. Head Coach Tianni Kelly will return for her second season at the helm after being named the MEC Women's Sports Coach of the Year for her efforts last season.
Scouting the Hilltoppers
West Liberty will bring a relatively young squad along with them to Erie this weekend. The team consists of just three upperclassmen: junior Arriana Manzay and graduate students Audrey Tingle and Molly Bauer. Bauer transferred from Division I Fairfield after finishing her bachelor's degree. Tingle was named to the All-MEC team last season as a senior. West Liberty will begin the tournament against California University (Pa.) Saturday before playing the Lakers Sunday.
