By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

MACOMB, Ill. — JD Gravina likes his summer formula.

The Western Illinois women’s basketball coach gives his team the month of June off before bringing them back to campus in July for summer workouts.

“I think it’s really helpful for college-aged student-athletes,” Gravina said. “They get to go home, work out on their own, get to go on vacations. A lot of them were traveling with their families. Then when they come back in July, they’re super-excited to be here. I think that’s really nice for us.”

What Gravina saw when the Leathernecks came back was an interesting roster dynamic. Carla Flores, who is in her sixth season, went home to Spain for the summer and wasn’t with the team. Alissa Dins and Kennedy Flanagan, who were on campus, are fifth-year seniors. Mallory McDermott and Anna Deets are seniors. And then there are eight freshmen and sophomores.

“We’ve got kind of a cool group,” Gravina said. “We’ve got a bunch of young kids, freshmen and sophomores, and also have some experienced kids, fourth or fifth-year kids who can play. It’s been the first time I’ve had a strong group on both sides. That should make things interesting.

“We definitely have more depth than we have had in the past,” Gravina said.

With that kind of depth also comes a depth in scoring. Deets, who averaged 12.4 points per game last season, is the leading returning scorer, but had six games of 20 or more points. McDermott had 21 in a game against Northern Illinois.

“Definitely, to be good, you have to have that player who is a go-to,” Gravina said. “But our strength is playing together, having a lot of depth. We have several kids who can lead us in scoring. Maybe Anna does it one night, maybe Mallory does it one night, maybe Addi Brownfield does. Maybe one of the freshmen steps up. It could be anyone, and I think that’s a good thing.”

Gravina has taken time to get acquainted with the Leathernecks’ new opponents in the Ohio Valley Conference.

“This league has a few different playing styles, and I think that will be exciting. We’ll see more pressing, more up-and-down styles,” he said. “For us, it’s such a fresh start. You look at the league, there’s such parity. It just seems so wide-open, which is so refreshing. Not that it’s not a good league, but it’s a parity league, one of those ones where you think if you can have everything come together, you can go out and win it.”

NONCONFERENCE SCHEDULE

November 6 — Mount Mercy; November 9 — at Wisconsin; November 12 — Northern Illinois; November 15 — Hannibal-LaGrange; November 18 — at Valparaiso; November 20 — Stephens College; November 28 — Chicago State. December 2 — St. Thomas. December 5 — Omaha. December 10 — at Kansas City. December 21 — Cornell College.

OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

December 31 — At SIU-Edwardsville; January 4 — Southeast Missouri State; January 6 — Lindenwood; January 11 — At Tennessee-Martin; January 13 — At Eastern Illinois; January 20 — Tennessee State; January 25 — At Southern Indiana; January 27 — At Morehead State; February 1 — At Lindenwood; February 3 — At Southeast Missouri State; February 8 — Little Rock; February 10 — Tennessee-Martin; February 15 — At Tennessee Tech; February 17 — At Tennessee State; February 22 — Morehead State; February 24 — Southern Indiana; February 29 — Eastern Illinois; March 2 — SIU-Edwardsville

Photo: Anna Deets drives to the basket in a game against Omaha last season. (Photo courtesy of WIU Athletic Communications)