DES MOINES, Iowa – The 2016-17 Drake University women's basketball team is set to host Winona State Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Knapp Center in the first of two exhibition games for the team to help prepare for the regular season. The exhibition will be broadcast on the radio on Praise 940AM.
 
Drake welcomes MidAmerica Nazarene for its final exhibition contest on Nov. 5 at 2 p.m. before opening the regular season Nov. 11 at North Dakota.
 
The Bulldogs have been tabbed as the favorite in the Missouri Valley Conference's annual preseason poll, and for the second-straight year senior Lizzy Wendell (Blue Springs, Mo.) is the MVC Preseason Player of the Year.
 
Drake head coach Jennie Baranczyk enters her fifth season with nine returning players plus three freshmen for the 2016-17 season. The Bulldogs are coming off a 23-10 season a year ago as the team recorded its second-straight 20+plus win season, a feat that hadn't been done since the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons. Drake qualified for postseason play for the second-consecutive season, advancing to the second round of the WNIT. The 23 wins are the most for the program since the 2007-08 season.
 
Wendell is set for her final season as a Bulldog with a chance to join an impressive group of former Drake and Missouri Valley Conference greats. Wendell, who led the league in scoring in each of the previous two seasons, is a three-time All-MVC First Team selection and was named the MVC Freshman of the Year in 2014. She has scored 1,859 career points to rank fifth among active NCAA players, seventh all-time at Drake and 13th all-time in the MVC. The Blue Springs, Mo., native has an opportunity to move to number two all-time in career points at Drake and in the MVC with former Drake legend Wanda Ford (1982-86) currently second all-time in school and MVC history with 2,636 points. Wendell's 19.4 points per game career scoring average currently ranks fourth and seventh all-time in Drake and MVC history, respectively. She has scored 10 or more points in 78-straight games, a streak that goes all the way back to her freshman season.
 
Senior point guard Caitlin Ingle (Runnells, Iowa) is also set for her final season as a Bulldog. Ingle and Wendell were selected to the preseason All-MVC team. The local product from Runnells, Iowa, has dished out 534 career assists to rank fourth all-time at Drake, seventh all-time in the MVC and 14th among active NCAA players. Ingle can pass former Drake standout Connie Newlin (1978-82), who had 767 career assists, for the top mark in program history. She can pass Melanie Boeglin, who played at Illinois State from 2002-06 and had 685 assists, for the top mark in league history.
 
Senior Cortni Rush (Mason City, Iowa) and juniors Maddy Dean (Jordan, Minn.) and Paige Greiner (Williamsburg, Iowa) return for their third seasons. Rush, who transferred to Drake as a sophomore from North Iowa Area Community College, played in 52 games her first two seasons. Dean led the team in rebounding at 7.0 per game while scoring 12.9 points per game as a sophomore. Last season, Greiner played in all 33 games and paced the team in three-point shooting at 43.0 percent.
 
Sophomore Sara Rhine (Eldon, Mo.) had a breakout debut season being named the MVC Freshman of the Year and the MVC Sixth Player of the Year. Rhine averaged 13.3 points per game behind 62.9 field goal shooting, which ranked third in the nation. Fellow sophomores Sammie Bachrodt (Wichita, Kan.) and Nicole Miller (Walker, Iowa) also contributed significantly in their first seasons. Bachrodt started all 33 games and was named to the MVC All-Freshman team while Miller played in every game and averaged 6.4 points per game. The Bulldogs also welcome back redshirt sophomore Becca Jonas (Independence, Mo.), who missed all of last season due to injury. In her first season (2014-15), Jonas averaged 12.5 points per game and led the team in rebounding at 9.1 per game on her way to earning all-conference honorable mention honors and was named to the MVC All-Freshman team.
 
Drake has three freshmen on this season's roster in Becca Hittner (Urbandale, Iowa), Mya Mertz (Overland Park, Kan.) and Brenni Rose (Shawnee, Kan.) that will compete for playing time in their first seasons. Hittner is a local product from Dowling Catholic while Mertz and Rose hail from the Kansas City metro area. All three had stellar high school careers capped by great senior years that garnered all-state accolades for each.
 
On the bench, veteran coach Nicci Hays Fort is set for her first season as an assistant coach while Des Moines native and former Notre Dame standout Markisha Wright was promoted to assistant coach. Former Marquette standout Angel Robinson is the program's new graduate assistant. Associate head coach Allison Pohlman enters her 10th season with the program.