FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Indiana Tech women's basketball team concludes its four-game homestand and returns to Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) play on Wednesday when they host Lourdes before hitting the road to take on Concordia on Saturday.
 
Indiana Tech (5-3, 2-1 WHAC)
 
Wednesday, Dec. 2, 6 p.m. – vs. Lourdes (3-6, 1-3 WHAC) – Fort Wayne, Indiana (Schaefer Center)
Saturday, Dec. 5, 1 p.m. – at Concordia (5-4, 1-3 WHAC) – Ann Arbor, Michigan (Concordia Gymnasium)
 
Following the Warriors: Links to live video and stats will be available at IndianaTechWarriors.com. You can also follow @INTechWBB and @INTechWarriors on Twitter to catch the action.
 
Last Time Out: The Warriors shook off the Thanksgiving rust and poor shooting to run away from Wilberforce, 72-42, on Saturday at the Schaefer Center. Six Warriors scored seven points or more and Tech shot over 40.3% from the floor. Taylor Carver led all scorers with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting and grabbed four rebounds. Taylor Seiss added 13 points and four rebounds while Baylee Rinehart chipped in 11 points and a pair of assists. Freshman Kendall Knapke pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds while adding four points, two blocks and a pair of steals.
 
Head Coach Jessie Biggs: Now in fourth season at Indiana Tech, Jessie Biggs has amassed 44 wins through her first three years, including a 19-13 mark in 2013. That season, Biggs led the Warriors to a 14-7 mark in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) action and a fourth-place finish. The Warriors would defeat Aquinas in the quarterfinals before falling to top seed and No. 2 Davenport in the semifinals. The Northern Iowa alum has had five players on the WHAC All-Academic Team, five WHAC All-Conference selections, two NAIA All-Americans, two NAIA Scholar-Athlete and one WHAC All-Newcomer Team selection.
 
Scouting the Opposition: Lourdes – The Gray Wolves are coming off a 78-67 loss to Ohio Valley last Friday after defeating Michigan-Dearborn, 60-45, last Tuesday for their first conference win of the year. Jesse Fidler leads the team in scoring with 15.7 points per game while shooting 56.7% from the field and pulling down 4.9 rebounds per contest. Andrea Hodge and Lindsey Motycka are both averaging 5.4 boards a game while chipping in 8.6 and 6.8 points per game, respectively.
 
Concordia – The Cardinals travel to Madonna on Wednesday before hosting the Warriors, but snapped a two-game losing skid on Sunday with a 60-55 win over Alma College. Brianna Rowe and Kari Borowiak are both averaging 11.4 pointer per game with the latter shooting 41.7% from the floor. Karlee Morris patrols the glass with 11.7 rebounds per contest and chips in 7.7 points a game while shooting a team-best 46.6% from the floor.
 
Series History: Lourdes – Tech is 7-1 all-time against the Gray Wolves and swept both meetings last season to push their winning streak to four in the series. The Warriors are 3-1 against Lourdes at home.
 
Concordia – The Warriors are 8-12 since 2005 and have won the last four in the series. In their last matchup on Nov. 22, 2014, thanks to Baylee Rinehart's 23 points and nine rebounds. Jessica Silva added 17 points while Alejandra Marquez Lopez chipped in with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
 
New Rules, Same Game: With all the rule changes that were passed over the summer in the NCAA, the NAIA has adopted those same rules. Instead of two 20-minute halves, teams will now play four 10-minute quarters. Teams will reach the bonus once its opponents have committed five fouls in a given quarter. 1-and-1 free-throw scenarios have been eliminated in favor of two shots for all common fouls. And teams will now have the option to advance the ball to the frontcourt in the final 59.9 seconds of the game.
 
Getting Defensive: Head coach Jessie Biggs teaches toughness to her players and it's resonating this year on defense as the Warrior have only allowed two teams, preseason No. 2 Davenport and No. 9 Marian, to score more than 70 points this season. Tech has given up less than 60 points in four of their last five games, including three-straight games of not allowing a team to score more than 45 points.
 
Getting Defensive II: The Orange and Black's suffocating defense has put them among the best in the nation when it comes to locking down an opponent. Tech's opponents are shooting 24.7% from the three-point line and just 33.4% from the field, tied for eighth and standing alone at 13^th in the country, respectively. The Warriors allow just 58.11 points per game, the 19^th best mark in the nation. Tech's 80 steals rank 46^th in the nation as well.
 
Lighting it Up: Taylor Seiss has been a threat to score from almost anywhere on the court, shooting 46.2% from the floor and 39.7% from behind the arc for a team-best 14.8 points per game. Her shooting ability, especially from deep, has given opponents fits all season long. Her 23 triples ranks in a tie for 13^th in all of NAIA Division II, while her 2.88 three-pointers per game is tied for 16^th in the nation in addition to her three-point percentage ranking 48^th in the country.
 
Cooking It Up: Sophomore transfer Haley Cook was named the WHAC Player of the Week on Nov. 23 after serving up two big games against conference opponents. She scored a career-high 22 points against Marygrove on Nov. 18 before adding 18 against Michigan-Dearborn on Nov. 21. She also recorded a career-high in rebounds with nine and picked up four steals and three assists in the victory over the Mustangs, while pulling down six rebounds, dishing out a career-high six assists and picking up a career-high five steals against the Wolverines.
 
This and That: Tech has outscored its opponents in every period so far this year as the Warriors have done the most damage in the final 10 minutes of play, scoring 166 points…the Orange and Black set season highs against Wilberforce in field goal attempts (72), three-point field goal attempts (28, tying UM-Dearborn game), and assists (18).
 
Back to the Road: After Wednesday's game against Lourdes, the Warriors take to the road with a four-game swing away from the Schaefer Center. Tech won't play at home again until Dec. 29 when they host crosstown rival and Preseason No. 20 Saint Francis.
 
Floor General: Senior point guard Rayana Villalpando has been steady as the Warriors floor general, averaging 3.3 assists per game while logging over 26 and a half minutes a night. She also chips in 6.6 points per game and pulls down 3.8 boards a contest.
 
Hitting Her Mark: Freshman forward Kendall Knapke has been a marksman for Tech through eight games, shooting 54.0% from the floor and 39.3% from behind the three-point line. She's also hitting 89.9% of her attempts from the free throw line and is fourth on the team in scoring (9.1 ppg), first in rebounding (6.0 rpg), second in steals (12) and tied for first in blocks (six).
 
Stacking Up Against the Competition: The Warriors have faced off with three teams ranked in the NAIA Coaches' Preseason Top 25 Poll, No. 2 Davenport, No. 9 Marian and No. 11 Purdue Calumet. Tech will also take on three more teams ranked in the preseason poll, No. 17 Huntington (Dec. 19), No. 20 Saint Francis (Dec. 29), No. 21 Madonna (Jan. 9 and Feb. 20) while the rematch against the Panthers comes on Jan. 23. WHAC foes Cornerstone and Siena Heights also picked up 26 and 13 votes, respectively. The first edition of the regular season poll will be released on Dec. 1.
 
Poll Thoughts: Tech was picked to finish fifth in the WHAC Coaches' Preseason Poll, receiving 83 votes to finish in a tie with Lawrence Tech. The Warriors finished in sixth last season with a mark of 11-11 in the conference, falling in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament to third seeded Madonna.
 
Staying Close to Home: Freshman Kendall Knapke didn't have to look far away when making her college decision. The Heritage High School product decided to stay in Fort Wayne when she signed with the Warriors last winter. The 5'11" forward averaged 10.5 points per game and 5.3 rebounds in her final prep season with the Patriots and is expected to start right away for the Orange and Black.