ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - Griffon Women's Basketball unofficially starts its 2025-26 season Wednesday with a high-level exhibition at Creighton University.
 
Tip-off from D.J. Sokol Arena in Omaha, Nebraska is set for 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast exclusively on the Griffon Sports Network (Varsity Network App, GoGriffons.com/listen) with Voice of the Griffons Tommy Rezac on the call.
 
Griffon Women's Basketball, once again, begins a new era this season. MoWest has its third different head coach in as many seasons with Luke Scheidecker becoming the 11th head coach in program history this past March.
 
Scheidecker brings with him eight years of head coaching experience, including seven at Wabash Valley College from 2016-18 and again from 2020-25. He's amassed a remarkable career record of 231-22 (.913), including six Great River Athletic Conference Championships.
 
Scheidecker looks to bring his winning pedigree at the two-year college level to a MoWest program that's enjoyed 20 wins or more in five of the last six seasons, and NCAA tournament bids in three of the last four.
 
Scheidecker takes the baton with an entirely new roster. Senior Meredith Rieker is the lone returner, while 11 new players have joined the team, including three junior college transfers and six players from NCAA institutions - two from NCAA Division I.
 
The Griffons added seven guards and four forwards, signing four juniors, five seniors and two freshmen. MoWest was picked to finish sixth in both the MIAA preseason media and coaches' polls.
 
Scouting Creighton
The Bluejays are fresh off of their fourth consecutive NCAA tournament bid, and will try to get back to the Big Dance with a younger roster. Creighton just graduated four members of its starting lineup from the last two seasons and added six freshmen, but this latest recruiting class by the Bluejays is ranked No. 23 in the country by ESPN – the highest ranked class in program history.
 
Creighton was just picked to finish fifth in the Big East Preseason Coaches' Poll. Jim Flanery begins his 24^th year as the head coach of the Jays. He's led the program to three regular season conference titles and one conference tournament championship along with eight NCAA tournament bids, including an Elite Eight berth in 2022.
 
Exhibition Experiences
Griffon Women's basketball is no stranger to playing in high-level exhibitions. Last season, MoWest went to Carver-Hawkeye Arena to battle Iowa, falling 110-55. The Griffs, however, own wins over Division I Missouri State (2023) and University of Missouri-Kansas City (2012) in exhibition contests.
 
The Griffons have also recently played at Creighton in 2022, Iowa State in 2019 and Mizzou in 2018.

Not the First Meeting
MoWest and Creighton saw each other in Omaha on Oct. 26, 2022, as each team was coming off of an Elite Eight appearance in their respective levels. The Bluejays topped the Griffs that day in exhibition play, 91-34.

Meeting the Griffs - Freshmen
Jada Smith averaged 15 points, 6.5 rebounds and three steals per game at Grandview High School (MO) in 2024-25. She made 55 three-pointers this past season, and was named the Greater Kansas City Suburban Conference Blue Division Player of the Year.
 
LaNicia Parker averaged 15 ppg, 7.3 rpg and 2 spg at Park Hill South High School in 2024-25, helping her team to a 28-1 record and a KC Suburban Conference Championship.
 
JUCO Transfers
Taylor Horton (5'8" Jr. G - John A. Logan College) averaged 18 points per game in 2024-25, while averaging three made three-pointers per game, shooting 44% from downtown. Horton was a 2x All Region and 2x All Conference Honore. She also set a school record with nine made three-pointers in a single game.
 
Horton played in the Great Rivers Athletic Conference, facing Scheidecker's Wabash teams several times over the previous couple of years.
 
Nakiya Harris (5'11" Jr. F - Wabash Valley College) averaged a near double-double her sophomore year at Wabash, averaging 10.5 ppg and 9.7 rpg. She was an All-Conference and All-Region performer as well. Harris started every game in 2024-25 for a team that finished 31-3 and finished the year as the No. 2 seed in the JUCO National Tournament.
 
Sydney Lewis (6'0" Jr. F - Pearl River CC) averaged a double-double in her sophomore year on a team that finished 25-3. Last season, Lewis averaged 10 ppg and 10 rpg. Lewis was named an Honorable Mention All-Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference honoree.
 
NCAA Transfers
Tamesha Dozier (6'1" Sr. F - University of Evansville) started 14 of 27 games for Evansville in 2024-25 and played 20 minutes per game, averaging 3.3 ppg and 3.4 rpg. Dozier played her freshman year at Wabash for Coach Scheidecker, averaging 6.7 points per game as a freshman while shooting 48.2% from the floor in 2022-23.
 
Lindsey Kelderman (5'6" Sr. G - Northwest Missouri State) appeared in 91 games over her three-year career at Northwest while making 58 starts. She averaged 7.7 ppg in her sophomore year and made 128 three-pointers in her Northwest career, shooting 36.5% from long range over that time.
 
Mikiya House (6'0" Sr. F - Queens University) saw limited minutes this past season at Queens. Previously, she played at Paris JC (Texas), where she averaged 16.1 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. She received Region XIV All-Region recognition, was 2x All-Conference, a 3x Player of the Week and a National Player of the Week selection in her two seasons at Paris.
 
Ana Oliveira Dias (5'6" Jr. G - UMKC) was named to Summit League All-Newcomer Team in 2024-25. She started in four games for the Roos and came off the bench in 28 other games, averaging 19 minutes per contest. Oliveira Dias led UMKC in steals, averaging 1.8 per game, which tied for fifth best in the Summit League. She also averaged 3.0 points, 1.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
 
A Quick Refresh
MoWest finished the 2024-25 season with a 20-10 record overall and a 14-5 mark in the MIAA. The Griffons were selected as the No. 4 seed in the NCAA Central Region Tournament played at John Lance Arena in Pittsburg, Kansas.
 
The Griffons drew a matchup with No. 5 seed and then defending national champion, Minnesota State, falling in that first round battle, 87-73. Still, it was a strong year for MoWest, as the Griffons knocked off three ranked opponents, including a season series sweep of Fort Hays State in what was the third consecutive 20-plus win season.
 
MoWest shattered the program record for most three-pointers in a single season in 2024-25, knocking down 300-of-949 attempts. The 300 makes shattered the previous record of 245 set in 2006-07.
 
The 949 attempts are also a new school record, overwhelming the previous record of 695 attempts in 2023-24.
 
After last season ended, former head coach Ashton Feldhaus left to take the head coaching job at NCAA Division I Morehead State in her homestate of Kentucky. Luke Scheidecker was named the 11th head coach in program history on March 31, 2025.
 
The Griffons graduated two seniors from last year's team of 10 players. Five players from that team transferred to other schools, while two medically retired.
 
Recent Success
Since the start of the 2019-20 season, MoWest has won 120 games, including 13 wins over ranked opponents in that span. Seven of those 13 wins came over teams ranked inside the top 10. MoWest won an NCAA Central Region Championship in 2022 and an MIAA regular season title in 2024.
 
Historically, Griffon Women's Basketball has reached the NCAA tournament 15 times - all since 1994. MoWest is 13-14 all-time in the Big Dance with three Regional Championships and a Final Four appearance in 1995.
 
Scouting the Schedule
MoWest officially opens with a bang on Halloween, playing defending national champion Grand Valley State (38-2) at St. Joseph Civic Arena in the D2CCA Tipoff Classic presented by the St. Joseph Sports Commission.
 
MoWest will also face Lubbock Christian on Nov. 2 (32-5) at Civic Arena before seeing Central Region foes Minnesota State-Moorhead and Concordia-St. Paul (29-3) on Nov. 14-15 in the DII WBB Central Region Showcase also being played at Civic Arena in downtown St. Joseph.
 
The non-conference schedule also features regional tests on the road at Harding and Ouachita Baptist. In all, MoWest will face six teams that made the NCAA tournament last season and five teams that finished the 2024-25 season ranked inside the top 13 in the WBCA Coaches' Poll.