The College at Brockport women's basketball team kicks off the 2019-2020 season on the road Tuesday, November 12th against RIT, set for a 5 p.m. start.  
 
Make It Five Straight: Head Coach Corinne Jones enters her fifth year as head coach of the Golden Eagles, where she has since led the program to its fourth straight SUNYAC tournament appearance. In the last three years, Jones has had seven players receive All-Conference honors, including her 18-19' solo senior Emily Nestler, who went on to collect a number of accolades including 3x SUNYAC Player of the Week, second team All-Conference and All-Tournament honors, SUNYAC Elite 20 Award Recipient, first team USBWA Rochester Area and named to the CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District.
 
Looking Back: The Golden Eagles are coming off of an 11-16 season and 8-10 in conference play. The team secured themselves a place in the SUNYAC tournament after a strong 60-45 win over Cortland, only to see the Red Dragons again in the first round. The Green and Gold went on to beat Cortland in the quarterfinals by an exciting two-point margin, advancing them to the semifinals against New Paltz. The team put up a tough fight against the former SUNYAC champions but came up just short 70-67.
 
Through 27 games, the Golden Eagles averaged 59 points per game, 38.4 rebounds and 13.3 assists. This time last year, the team put up a season high 85 points against D'Youville College in their second matchup of the season.
 
Key Returners: After losing their leading scorer at the end of the season, the Golden Eagles are going to look to Julianna Taylor and Bailey Pratt to build off of their strong offensive seasons, sitting just behind Nestler as the second and third highest scorers on the team with 246 and 205 points respectively. The team will continue to look for leadership at the top of the circle from Zaria McCullough and Chelsea Henry who led at the point in the 18-19' season. McCullough led the team in assists with 71 total and Henry provided strength at the free throw line, sinking 43/57. In addition, the Golden Eagles welcome back sophomore guard Mackenzie Grube in addition to four forwards including sophomores Allison Chiera, Nicole Leslie and Kylee Rosbrook as well as senior Emily Merrill.
 
Fresh Perspectives: The Golden Eagles are excited about the strengths that their six newcomers will bring to the team, including freshman Anna Felice, Serena Sordetto, Bryn Hayes, Kayla Usborne, Erin Radack and Riqiya Harris. Each athlete will provide depth to the Green and Gold's roster in addition to new energy and fresh perspectives.
 
Scouting RIT: RIT is coming off of a strong 2018-2019 season where they made an appearance in the NCAA tournament. The Tigers went 20-8 overall and 14-4 in conference play, where they competed against Ithaca College in the Liberty League Championships and lost 75-73 in overtime. The team then got a bid to the NCAA tournament where they traveled to Mechanicsburg, PA to compete against Baldwin Wallace University, finding a similar fate as the conference championships, losing a close two point battle with the Yellow Jackets. The Tigers only graduated two seniors last year, looking to return a wealth of talent.

Last Time They Met: The two teams met four games into the season last year, where the Tigers walked away with a 61-56 win. The Golden Eagles outscored the Tigers through the first two quarters but couldn't maintain their momentum, giving up 43 points between the third and fourth quarters. Pratt led the Green and Gold offensively, putting up 17 points and seven rebounds while shooting six of 11 from the paint and five of nine from three.
 
Follow Along: RIT will be providing options to follow the game with both live video and stats. Check the following links to stay up to date on the action come game time:
 
Live Stats - https://ritathletics.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Live Video - https://ritathletics.com/watch/?Live=30&type=Live
 
What's Next: The Golden Eagles are set to host their annual Tip-Off Tournament this weekend where they will welcome Alfred University, Keuka College and Medaille College to the Jim and John Vlogianitis Gymnasium for two games on Friday and two games on Saturday.