UMD Women’s Basketball Return With Young, But Experienced Core

The Bulldogs will open their season in two weeks with a home exhibition against Bethel.

DULUTH, Minn. – Welcome back to the UMD women’s basketball team, who held their media day Tuesday afternoon at Romano Gym.

The Bulldogs are coming into this season with a nice blend of youth and experience. But the team is confident they’ll be able to get contributions from everyone, whether it be returning starters or newcomers on the bench.

“I feel like we are a young team because we’ve had girls playing since they were young. But it feels like we’re still young. I think our freshmen coming in and our sophomores, everybody is going to be contributing this year. In that sense, it makes it feel like we’re still a young team,” said junior Payton Kahl.

“Ann [Simonet] and Sarah [Grow] have been starting in the past couple of years so they have that experience along with myself so it’s very exciting,” senior Katie Stark said.

“We graduated three players who were very instrumental in our success so we’re going to have a few growing pains at the start of practice and we’re noticing it with our energy. When things get a little bit tough, we’re still waiting to see who’s going to step up every single time at practice to keep our energy high. I’m excited to see who develops into that role,” said head coach Mandy Pearson.

The Bulldogs will open their season in two weeks with a home exhibition against Bethel.