By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

Western Illinois University’s women’s basketball team opens the season at Minnesota as part of a 11-game non conference schedule.

The Leathernecks, who went 14-15 last season, play the Gophers on November 7, then play at Southern Indiana on November 11.

WIU’s regular-season home opener is November 14 against Eastern Illinois, then the Leathernecks go on the road for games against Northern Illinois (November 17) and Chicago State (November 21).

Western Illinois has a November 30 home game against Tarleton State and a December 3 home game against Eureka College on December 3, then plays at Southeast Missouri State on December 7.

The Leathernecks conclude the nonconference schedule with home games against SIU-Edwardsville (December 11) and St. Xavier (December 16). They open Summit League play on December 19 at North Dakota State.

The Leathernecks have two home exhibitions — October 24 against Columbia College and November 1 against Quincy University.

Western Illinois brings back three of their top five scorers from last season — Elizabeth Lutz (11.6 ppg), Jada Thorpe (11.2 ppg) and Anna Deets (6.8 ppg).

Photo: Anna Deets (left) is one of the returning players for Western Illinois’ women’s basketball team this season. (Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com)