ORANGEBURG, S.C. – The SC State women's basketball team opens the 2015-16 season this Saturday when the Morris College Lady Hornet come to the Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center. Tip-off is at 4 p.m.
 
Led by head coach Doug Robertson who is in his eighth season at the helm, the Lady Bulldogs are looking to build on their accomplishments from last year when they finished 16-12 overall and 9-7 in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play.
 
The Lady Bulldogs have a few new additions to the program on both the sidelines and the court. Robertson welcomes new assistant coaches Roderick Woods and Alexis Pace. Woods comes to SC State from Clinton Junior College where he spent 12 years as the head women's basketball coach and athletics director. Pace joins the staff after a four-year stint as an assistant coach at her alma mater, the University of West Georgia.  On the court, Robertson added four newcomers.
 
Eight players return from last season. Leading the way are senior guards Amber Howard and Jazzmine Johnson and senior forwards Jasmine Coleman and Toni Grier. Howard was second on the team last season in scoring with 10.8 points per game and led the squad with 3.0 assists per game. Johnson averaged 8.1 points and 3.1 rebounds in 27 games last year.
 
Coleman led the Lady Bulldog defense with 7.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game in 28 games and averaged 6.8 points per game during the 2014-15 season. Grier is fifth among the returning players in scoring after recording 4.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game last year.
 
Also returning to the roster this year are sophomores Ashleigh Outler, Brittany Drumgoole, Mallory Stone and Jahmia Bradley. Guards Outler and Drumgoole saw extensive time in the rotation last year, averaging 13.6 and 13.4 minutes per game, respectively. Guard/forward Stone provided a good defensive presence in her rookie season and came off the bench to play in every game last season. Bradley also saw action in all 28 games and started 17 contests.
 
The four newcomers are junior guard Bria Ratliff (5-6/Oklahoma City, Okla./Georgia Highlands CC), freshman guard Imani Lewis (5-10/Norfolk, Va./Kings Fork HS), freshman forward JaQuanna Murray (Orangeburg, S.C./Orangeburg-Wilkinson HS) and freshman center Dashanique Peterson (6-4/Kingstree, S.C./Kingstree HS). The new additions will give the Lady Bulldogs a solid rotation at the guard position and some much-needed height in the front court.
 
The Lady Bulldogs have a manageable schedule that features nine non-conference matchups and 11 home games.
 
After hosting Morris College on Saturday, they hit the road for games at Furman (Nov. 16) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (Nov. 20) and then close out the month at home against Wofford (Nov. 30).
 
SC State will play all six of its December games on the road, starting with a Dec. 2 matchup at Clemson. The Lady Bulldogs visit the Sunshine State to take on Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) opponents Florida A&M (Dec. 5) and Bethune-Cookman (Dec. 7) and return 12 days later to play in the Osprey Classic ( Dec. 19-20) hosted by the University of North Florida. The final game of the calendar year is on Dec. 30 at Jacksonville University.
 
The Lady Bulldogs return from the winter break to host Southern Wesleyan University on Jan. 2 in their final non-conference game. They resume MEAC play with a four-game home stand, hosting North Carolina Central (Jan. 9), North Carolina A&T (Jan. 11), Delaware State (Jan. 16) and Maryland Eastern Shore (Jan. 18). At the end of January, SC State plays road games at Norfolk State (Jan. 23), Hampton (Jan. 25) and Delaware State (Jan. 30).
 
February's six games are an equal split of road and home games. SC State hosts Coppin State (Feb. 6), Morgan State (Feb. 8) and Savannah State (Feb. 13), before traveling to Maryland Eastern Shore (Feb. 20), Howard (Feb. 22) and Savannah State (Feb. 27).

The Lady Bulldogs end the regular season with their final conference matchup against Bethune-Cookman on March 3 in Orangeburg.
 
The 2016 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Basketball Tournament will run from March 7-12 at the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Va.