ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - Missouri Western women's basketball (2-0) continues its non-conference slate this weekend, as the Griffons head to Pueblo, Colorado to play both Colorado Christian and Colorado State-Pueblo in an event formerly known as the Al Kaly Shrine Memorial Classic.
MWSU will play Colorado Christian on Friday at 4 p.m. CT and then Colorado State-Pueblo on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT. Both games are being played at CSU-Pueblo's Massari Arena. The games are
available to watch on the RMAC Network for free.
Last Time Out
Missouri Western started its season at 2-0 this past weekend at the Central Region WBB Showcase at Civic Arena in St. Joseph, most recently knocking off Augustana 96-61 on Saturday.
The Griffons shot well throughout the night, sparked by a 16-of-36 effort (44.4%) from long range. Missouri Western shot 50.8% (32-of-63) overall. On defense, Missouri Western held Augustana to 33.3% shooting (21-of-63) and just 6-of-26 from three (23.1%). The Griffons also blocked eight shots in the win, and scored 23 points off of 22 Augustana turnovers.
The Vikings also missed 15 free throws, going 13-of-28.
Matilda Soderlund came off the bench to score a game-high 19 points on a 6-of-9 shooting effort, including a 5-of-8 effort from three.
Marie Sepp added 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting to go with seven rebounds.
Alyssa Bonilla added 11 points and a career-high nine assists, while
Kassandra Caron chipped in 11 off the bench to go with two blocked shots.
The Griffons shared the ball well with 26 total assists. MWSU also scored 25 fastbreak points, collected 45 bench points and scored 32 points in the paint.
Series Histories
Friday marks just the second ever meeting between Missouri Western and Colorado Christian in women's basketball. The last meeting came on Nov. 19, 2011 in Golden, CO, when Colorado Christian won 69-54.
Saturday, meanwhile, will mark the first ever meeting between the Griffons and the Thunderwolves of Colorado State-Pueblo.
Get to Know the Griffs
Missouri Western hired its 10th head coach in program history this past offseason, naming
Ashton Feldhaus to the position on April 15. Feldhaus takes the reins after spending the previous five seasons as the top assistant and associate head coach for NCAA Division II Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida.
In those five years, Eckerd won a combined 91 games and made the NCAA tournament in each of those five seasons. They also won the Sunshine State Conference championship this past March.
As for the team itself, Missouri Western returns five players from last year's team that won an MIAA regular season championship for the sixth time in program history and the first time since 2016.
Alyssa Bonilla is back for her fourth season after leading the team last year with 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals per contest.
Meredith Rieker,
Kelsey Johnson,
Kassandra Caron and
Jaidyn Schomp make up the rest of the returners. Caron played in 30 games last season, averaging 4.3 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.
The Griffons also added five transfers this offseason, including four from Division I schools.
Jessica Ford transferred in from Eckerd College, following Coach Feldhaus to St. Joseph from St. Petersburg, Florida. Ford, originally from Marlborough, England, started 22 games for the Tritons last season, averaging 6.0 points and 4.5 rebounds a game, helping Eckerd to a 20-win season and a Sunshine State Conference tournament championship.
Matilda Soderlund transferred in from Morehead State, where she played in 30 games and made five starts last season. The Stockholm, Sweden native led the Eagles last season with 45 made three-pointers.
Laura Toffali joins the fold after a two-year stay at Kennesaw State. A Villasanta, Italy native, Toffali played in 38 games for the Owls over the last two years, including four career starts. She scored a total of 114 points over the two years.
Marie Sepp comes over after two seasons at Division I University at Albany. She appeared in 54 total games and scored 38 total points in that time.
Malgorzata Byczkowska transferred after one year at Tarleton State. A native of Gdynia, Poland, Byczkowska spent the 2022-23 season at Howard College in Big Springs, Texas, earning WJCAC All-Conference honors. She averaged 13.1 ppg and 5.3 rpg that season as well.
Colorado Christian Cougars
Colorado Christian comes in at 0-2 with losses against UT-Tyler (61-56) and Lubbock Christian (66-52) this past weekend in the South Central Region Crossover at Tyler, Texas. In the game against UT-Tyler, Maggie Hutka led the Cougars with 24 points and 14 rebounds. Hutka was a first-team all-RMAC and second-team all-region pick last season, averaging 20.2 points per game.
Hutka also scored a team-high 16 points in the loss to Lubbock Christian. Dasiya Jones is another player to watch. An RMAC Honorable Mention pick from last year, Jones started all 29 games and led the team with eight rebounds per game. She also had four double-doubles. Nicole Bowlin is another starter back from last season. She, too was an RMAC Honorable Mention selection in 2023-24, averaging 10 points per game, shooting 40.7% from three and doling out 99 assists.
Victoria Perez returns after averaging 8.7 points per game in 29 appearances off the bench last season.
Colorado Christian was picked to finish 8th out of 15 teams in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Cougars finished 17-12 last season.
Colorado Christian is a relatively young team this season with four freshmen and three sophomores to go with three seniors and two juniors. Carissa Ratliff is the interim head coach for Colorado Christian, having just started in that post this past October. She had been the assistant for Colorado Christian from 2019-2021.
CSU-Pueblo Thunderwolves
Like Colorado Christian, CSU-Pueblo also played in the South Central Region Crossover this past weekend with losses to Lubbock Christian (72-38) and UT-Tyler (66-41). CSU-Pueblo was picked to finish third in the RMAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, and like Missouri Western, the Thunderwolves received votes in the WBCA Preseason Top 25 poll.
CSU-Pueblo returns four starters from a season ago - a team that went 17-15 overall. Redshirt senior and two-time All-American forward Alisha Little is the headline returner.
Last season, Little was named the RMAC Defensive Player of the Year, along with being a Second-Team D2CCA All-American and a WBCA Honorable Mention All-American. Last seaosn, Little led the RMAC in scoring (20.8 ppg), rebounds (11.9 rpg), blocked shots (3.6 bpg) and double-doubles (24), which was also tops in Division II women's basketball. She was also a nine-time RMAC Player of the Week, including seven Defensive Player of the Week accolades and two Offensive Player of the Week honors.
CSU-Pueblo's other returning starters are senior guard Landri Hudson, senior guard Tomia Johnson and redshirt senior forward Autumn Watts. Hudson averaged 7.8 points per game last season and shot 34 percent from the 3-point line and 88 percent at the free throw line, while Johnson, an Honorable Mention All-RMAC selection last season, averaged 6.7 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Watts, a Second-Team All-RMAC selection, averaged 10.1 points and 6.1 rebounds last season.
Tommie Johnson is in his fifth season as the head coach of CSU-Pueblo. He led the Thunderwolves to 23 wins in the 2021-22 season.
What's Next
Missouri Western stays on the road next week for non-conference play with games at Concordia St. Paul on Nov. 20 at 6 p.m. and Minnesota State-Moorhead on Nov. 21 at 6 p.m.
