Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Game notes

Kentucky Wesleyan will play its first two games of the regular season on Friday and Saturday in Nashville. The Panthers will play Ferris State on Friday at 7:30 and Findlay on Saturday at 3. Kentucky Wesleyan played two exhibition games last week against Austin Peay and Southern Illinois.

Co-Head Coach Nicole Nieman on last week's exhibition games, "We were trying to give everyone an opportunity to play, while also giving everyone some quality minutes and experience to help evaluate our team a little bit more.

"We really liked what we saw in the second half against Austin Peay. We just played with a lot more energy and did a good job of letting the game come to us more. I was also pleased with the first half of Southern Illinois. I think that we really got after it defensively and handled their pressure early on very well."

Ferris State went 11-14 on the year last year, and recently played the University of Michigan in an exhibition contest. The Bulldogs are led by Christina Branch and Katie Mavis who averaged 11.7 and 11.5 points per game last season respectively.

Findlay split their two exhibition games against Otterbein and Toledo. The Oilers are led by Margaret Wuebker and Karli Bonar, who each averaged 10.2 points per game last year.

Nieman on this weekend's matchups, "We don't really know a whole lot about Ferris State, other than the fact that they have a new coach. It will be an interesting game. We do know that they will have a good ball club this year and will be ready to play. Findlay will also be tough. They were picked to finish second in their division. We think that they will come after us by pressing. It should be an up and down kind of game."

The Panthers have had five players reach double figures through their first two exhibition contests.

Coach Nieman still stressed the importance of getting experience and understanding the offense. "Offensively we just need to get more playing time and experience. We need to get to know each other better and understand the offense a little more" Nieman said.