The St. Lawrence University women's basketball team is set to open its 2011-12 campaign this weekend at the Amherst Tip-Off Tournament in Amherst, MA. Returning 10 of its top 11 scorers from last season, the squad will look to earn a Liberty League championship title and an NCAA Tournament berth.

"Our team goal is to win the Liberty League and advance to the National Tournament," said St. Lawrence head coach Dan Roiger, who enters his third year at the helm of the Saints program. "We feel like we have been a good team for the last few years but not quite tough enough to break into the national level. We need to become mentally tougher so we can take advantage of the opportunities we are presented and compete at the national level, not just the regional level."

The Saints, who went 19-6 overall last season with a share of the Liberty League regular season title, did not lose any seniors to graduation. Seniors Katie Edgerton and Casey Capello, the second and third leading scorers on the team, will once again serve as co-captains, though the other members of the Class of 2012, Breezy Dwyer and Iris Santoni, will be looked to for leadership.

"All of them need to be leaders by example and hold themselves and their teammates to the highest standards of accountability on the floor," said Coach Roiger. "Our theme this year is ‘there are no small plays' and we want to play each possession as if it is the last minute of the game."

Also returning in the talented core of veteran players is junior Erica Spera and sophomores Kelly Legg, Katie Abramski, Katie Murray, Cassie St. Hilaire, Kathleen McCallops and Casey Koch. Spera and Legg, along with Edgerton and Capello, led the Saints in nearly every statistical category. Abramski will join Spera and Legg in the post, while St. Hilaire, McCallops and Koch will join Edgerton and Capello at guard. Santoni and Murray will both see time at point guard.

St. Lawrence welcomes first-year students Kara McDuffee, Allison Cady, Adriana Spicer and Maddy Wetterhahn to the 2011-12 squad, all who have the potential to have a significant impact on the Saints basketball program. McDuffee will join Santoni and Murray as a playmaker at point, while Cady and Spicer will serve as shooting guards. Wetterhahn will join Spera and Legg as a post scorer.

The Scarlet and Brown have an upgraded schedule which opens up at the Amherst Tip-Off Tournament against Mount St. Mary, the 2010-11 Skyline Conference champion who ended the season with a mark of 18-0 (26-3 overall).

"We want to find out right away where we stand and what we need to improve on," said Coach Roiger. "It starts in the first game with a disciplined and experienced Mount St. Mary team that will present a huge challenge for us."

The Knights, ranked No. 20 in 2011-12 Women's DIII News Preseason Poll, advanced to their 12th consecutive NCAA Division III National Tournament last season, falling in the second round and finishing the year ranked 23rd in the country.

The Saints will play either Amherst or Norwich on the second day of the tournament. Amherst, ranked No. 1 in the D3hoops.com Preseason Poll, has made three Final Four appearances in the last three years and won the program's first-ever NCAA title last season. The Lord Jeffs have posted an overall record of 93-6 over the past three years. Meanwhile, Norwich, who posted a 16-10 overall record and went 8-4 in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference, returns three of its top five scorers.

St. Lawrence will also play Ithaca, ranked No. 22 in the WDIIIN Preseason poll, as well as Plattsburgh, Elmira, Hartwick, Medaille and Potsdam State in non-conference match-ups before beginning their conference schedule at Union College on Jan. 6.

"We believe that of our eight non-conference games, we could play four teams that have the potential to go to the national tournament, all of which will be on the road," said Coach Roiger. "The other non-conference games will not be easy either, and three of them are road games. Probably more than any other time in my coaching career, our team will be battle-tested going into the conference regular season. That testing will start in the very first game."

The St. Lawrence University men's and women's home basketball games will again be broadcast by AmericaOne for a fee. Also, be sure to check out the new-and-improved "Official Fanshop", as the athletic department has teamed up with SKOR to provide hundreds of Saints Athletic items available for student-athletes, parents, alumni and fans to purchase.