HAMMOND, Ind. – The 2021 Purdue Northwest women's basketball season officially tips off Friday and Saturday when the Pride host Michigan Tech inside the Fitness and Recreation Center. It'll be PNW's first regular-season games in nearly 10 months. Friday's game will start at 6 p.m. CST and Saturday's contest is set for a 3 p.m. CST tipoff.
 
Per league guidelines, no spectators are permitted at PNW home basketball games.
 
All games will be live streamed and can be accessed through PNWathletics.com. PNW fans are encouraged to support the Pride by ordering a fan cutout to be placed in the bleachers at John Friend Court. Cutouts will be available for purchase throughout the season.
 
The 2021 campaign signals the fourth year in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the Pride are young, talented and eager for a return to the hardwood.
 
PURDUE NORTHWEST STORYLINES

• Returning for her second year, head coach Courtney Locke led PNW to its most wins of the Division II era in her debut season as a head coach.
• PNW was picked to finish fifth in the GLIAC North Division in the women's basketball preseason poll with 26 points. The Pride finished fifth in the 2019-20 final standings at 6-22 (5-15 GLIAC) overall.
• PNW will be looking to snap a seven-game losing streak in GLIAC play. The final three games last season were decided by single digits, including an overtime defeat against Lake Superior State. PNW had several close games at John Friend Court with 5 of 11 losses at home decided by single digits.
• The Pride's last conference home win was a 75-72 victory over Davenport on Feb. 1, 2020.
• PNW is 1-2 in home openers since joining the GLIAC and the Pride hold a 6-4 record in their previous 10 home openers.
• Locke's first win at PNW came in last year's home opener, a 92-68 non-conference win over Lincoln (IL). Anjel Galbraith scored a career-high 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting and Savaya Brockington posted 16 points with 9 assists in the duo's first home game at PNW.
• Traditionally, PNW has played well on its home court and will look to get back to its winning ways. The Pride produced an overall home record of 91-54 (.628) last decade and averaged nearly 12 home wins per season from 2010 to 2017.
• PNW played one exhibition game before the winter break against nearby Division I foe, Loyola, as the Pride fell 80-61 to the Ramblers on the road. Freshman Dash Shaw led the Pride with 16 points (7 of 13 FG) in 19 minutes of action off the bench. All 13 players saw playing time, including five freshmen.
• PNW's current roster includes eight returning letterwinners and only four upperclassmen. Notably, the top four scorers from a year ago are back this season, a group that accounted for 70 percent of the team's total point production in 2019-20. (Savaya Brockington, 14.3 ppg; Anjel Galbraith, 9.2 ppg; Danielle Nennig 9.1 ppg; Molly DeValkenaere 7.0 ppg)
• Brockington, a preseason All-GLIAC selection, returns for her sophomore season after leading the Pride in points (14.3), rebounds (4.7), assists (3.6) and steals (1.7) in 2019-20. The Indianapolis native started all 28 games as a true freshman.
• In preparing for the upcoming GLIAC slate, the biggest area of growth opportunity for PNW exists on the boards. The Pride finished last in the GLIAC in rebounding margin (-8.5) and rebounds per game (29.6) while only outrebounding three opponents last season. 
• The Pride led the GLIAC in fewest turnovers per game (13.5) and will rely on high efficiency on offense to pull out more close games this season.

 
CLOSER LOOK AT MICHIGAN TECH

• Michigan Tech was selected second in the North Division in the GLIAC preseason poll.
• The Huskies feature two preseason all-conference players, senior Cassidy Trotter (12.3 ppg) and junior Ellie Mackay (12.2 ppg). 
• Michigan Tech made a quarterfinal appearance in the GLIAC Tournament last season and finished fourth in the North Division with an overall record of 9-11 (11-17 GLIAC).
• Head coach Sam Hoyt is in her third season with an overall record of 32-26 (.552). She led the Huskies to a regular-season division title in her first year as a head coach in 2018-19.

 
SERIES HISTORY

• Michigan Tech leads the all-time series 6-0 with double-digit wins in every meeting.
• The most recent matchup came last February as the Huskies pulled out a 10-point win (63-53) in Houghton – the smallest margin of defeat in the series between these two programs. Molly DeValkenaere led the Pride with 14 points in that game. 
• PNW hosted Michigan Tech last season at the Westville campus as the Huskies recorded a 20-point win (75-55). The Pride trailed by 10 entering the final quarter but were held to only six points in the last stanza.

 
NEXT UP
GLIAC play continues with the first road trip slated for next weekend at Lake Superior State.