The first tip off of the 2015-16 season for the Grand Valley State women's basketball season will be on the road, as the Lakers head down to Quincy, Illinois to take on the Truman State Bulldogs on Saturday and the Quincy Hawks on Sunday.
 
Under the leadership of first year head coach Mike Williams, the Lakers will take on unfamiliar opponents Truman on Friday. Truman is coming off a 16-11 season, and return a pair of veteran offensive threats in guard Courtney Strait (13.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg) and center Michalina Tomaczak (10.6 ppg, 6.6 rpg).
 
"Defensively, I think keeping Courtney Strait in front of you is important, because she's a guard that can get to the rim, she works the floor and is good at pitching it out to an open shooter," Williams said.  When the Bulldogs aren't working the ball through Strait, they are likely to throw it down low to Tomaczak.
 
"Tomaczak is just tough down low, she gets the ball and wants to go over her right shoulder and score with her left, and she's good at it. If she gets the ball inside, it'll be hard to keep her from scoring without fouling her," Williams said.
 
In Sunday's game game against Quincy, the Lakers will have to contend with a bevy of balanced scorers. Quincy featured eight players on the roster last season that averaged at least five points per game, and six of those players return this season, including senior center Erin Mennemeyer (8.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg).
 
"It's very difficult to defend against a balanced scoring team like Quincy. You can't key in on one player. They are a veteran team, they're very balanced, and you can see that on film. Every one of their players is better than they look on film."
 
The variety of the Hawks attack presents a difficult choice defensively. Crowd the post, and risk allowing the Hawks to shoot more threes, or surrender the post pressure to keep Quincy's shooters out of their rhythm.
 
"We're going to have to stop the pass into the post, to keep  her(Mennemeyer) from passing it back out to a 3 point shooter," Williams said.  "We're going to have to be able to close out well on their shooters when they skip the ball around the perimeter as well. "
 
Quincy will likely look to rely on the three ball this season, despite losing top three point shooter from last season Carly Bettencourt.  The Hawks averaged 7.4 three pointers made per contest last season.
 
"We've been trying to work on taking away things that the opposing team wants to do, whether it be throwing it into the post, passing it out to the perimeter, etc."
 
Tip off for Saturday's game is set for 6 p.m at Pepsi Arena in Quincy Illinois. Sunday's game will be played at the same location, with a tip off set for 3 p.m.