BOWIE, Md. – Second-year head coach Renard Smith, his coaching staff and players are eager and ready to get the 2012-2013 campaign underway. The Bowie State University Lady Bulldogs will tip-off the year with a short road contest to Washington Adventist University.

The Lady Bulldogs return five players from last season's squad which finished 9-16 overall and reached the CIAA Tournament quarterfinals. Bowie State returns two starters and welcomes 10 newcomers to the program.

The Lady Bulldogs will look for a strong start to the season when they take on the Lady Shock – Thursday, November 15th at 6 pm. After starting last season losing their first eight games, Bowie State ended the year winning eight of its final 12 games. Bowie State will be without the services of former starters Juliette Turner, Chanita Jordan and Kimberly Jones. The team will return with senior guards Cortney Baynard and Jasmine Jacobs, junior guard Brooke Miles and sophomore guards Alisha Burley and ReVen Smith. Miles, a preseason All-CIAA selection, ranked second on the team in scoring (10.0) and first in steals (46) while Jacobs and Baynard had identical 6.5 points per game averages.

Of the key newcomers, sophomore guard Channell Mackey (Gwynn Park H.S.) should be one of the biggest impact players for the Lady Bulldogs. Mackey transferred from West Virginia State University where she averaged 6.6 point per game. Other new players to watch are junior center Moriah Goodman (Morgan State University), Alessandra “Sunny” Flores Conway (Hagerstown Community College) and Jasmine McIntosh (East Tennessee State University).

“We got off to rough start and our goal this year is to not only get better but do better and I feel very confident will achieve this goal”, said Smith. “We a more athletic than we were a year ago!”

The Washington Adventist Lady Shock wrapped up the 2011-2012 season with a 6-17 record and will be led by senior guards Vanessa Rice, Angelica Nevarez and Quianna Tiggle. Rice averaged 11.8 points per game last season and Tiggle paced the Lady Shock with 46 steals. WAU will have a two-game advantage on BSU, having played and lost two games. Washington Adventist opened the 2012-2013 season with a 85-50 loss on the road at Shippensburg (11/10) and lost their (11/13) home opener to the University of D.C. by a score of 69-52.