NEW ALBANY, Ind. – The IU Southeast women's basketball season begins this week, and the Grenadiers are looking to make some noise in the River States Conference.
 
COACHING STAFF
 
IU Southeast is led by Abby Downard, who enters her first year at the helm. Downard comes to IU Southeast after a stint at Purdue University. She played collegiate ball at Marian University.
 
The Grenadiers are assisted by Aliyah Evans, who also played collegiate basketball at Marian University.
 
RETURNERS
 
IU Southeast returns 10 players from last season's roster: Jesse Ledgerwood, Linzie Wernert, Grace Stapleton, Ella Brown, Makenna Wilson, Taylor Treat, Carley Higgins, Skyler Mills, and Taylor Turpin, who was on the team last season but did not play in a game due to injury.
 
Ledgerwood returns for her senior year. She was the team's leading scorer last season, averaging 12.1 points per game. She hit 57 threes at a 34.8 percent clip and was named to the All-RSC Second Team.
 
Wernert returns for her third year, looking to improve off a season in which she was named to the All-RSC Second Team. She averaged 10.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game last year.
 
Dual-sport athlete Grace Stapleton returns for her junior campaign. The guard averaged 8.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 26 games last season.
 
Ella Brown enters her second year at IU Southeast. The forward averaged 7.9 points and 3.0 rebounds in 27 games last year.
 
Makenna Wilson enters her senior year at IU Southeast. Wilson averaged 7.7 points and shot 35.8 percent from the field in her junior campaign.
 
Taylor Treat enters her third and final year as a Grenadier. She averaged 7.2 points and a team-high 4.0 assists per game last year. It's a family affair this year for Treat as her brother, Jordan, is on the men's basketball team.
 
Carley Higgins returns for her second season, coming off a year in which she played in 21 games as a freshman.
 
Skyler Mills also returns for a second season. Mills saw action in 20 games as a freshman.
 
NEWCOMERS
 
IU Southeast adds three newcomers to the roster: Jericho Hopper, Samara Miller, and Morgan Roberts.
 
Jericho Hopper comes to IU Southeast from Paoli H.S., where she was high school teammates with Carley Higgins.
 
Samara Miller enters her freshman year at IU Southeast. She decided to stay home to play college ball, as Miller is a native of Floyds Knobs, Ind. and attended Floyd Central High School.
 
Morgan Roberts is the lone transfer on the roster. Roberts is from Fishers, Indiana and attended Walsh College last season.
 
KEY LOSSES
 
IU Southeast lost two of their five leading scorers from a year ago: Lexi Starr, who averaged 9.0 points per game and was second on the team with 4.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game, and Karly Sweeney, who averaged 8.1 points per game and led IU Southeast with a 40.2 three-point percentage.
 
SCHEDULE
 
IU Southeast kicks off their season with a home contest against Simmons College on Oct. 28.
 
November is a gauntlet for IU Southeast as the Grenadiers play four ranked teams, including three top five teams.
 
The RSC opener for IU Southeast is on Dec. 10 at IU Kokomo. The RSC home opener is on Jan. 3 at Oakland City.
 
To view the full schedule, click here.