GENEVA, N.Y.—The William Smith College basketball team will open the 2016-17 season tonight at seventh-ranked University of Rochester. The Herons and Yellowjackets will tipoff at 7 p.m.
 
Head Coach Lindsay Sharman begins her 12th season at the helm with 13 returning players and four newcomers. Her baker's dozen includes seven players that started three or more games last year and three All-Liberty League honorees, senior guard Melanie Patterson, senior forward Gabrielle Eure, and sophomore forward Mia Morrison.
 
The only player to start all 24 games last season, Patterson averaged a team-leading 12.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, a team-high 3.9 assists, and 1.1 steals, while shooting .409 from the floor, a team-best .380 from 3-point range, and a team-high .808 from the free throw line. Eure produced 10.6 points and 9.6 rebounds. She shot a team-high .565 from the floor and notched nine double-doubles. Both Patterson and Eure earned All-Liberty League honorable mention.
 
An All-Liberty League second team selection and a unanimous All-Rookie Team pick, Morrison averaged 12.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.3 blocked shots per game. She recorded eight double-doubles last season, including 17 points and a season-high 16 rebounds in her second collegiate game, an overtime win at Bridgewater State.
 
Junior guard Kendra Quinn-Moultrie and sophomore guard Olivia Hughes started 18 and 21 games, respectively, last year. Quinn-Moultrie chipped in 8.1 points and 3.6 rebounds and Hughes added 4.1 points and 3.2 rebounds.
 
Senior forwards Courtney Chase, Alyssa DiCampli, Mary Buck, and Krista Anken add depth and experience to the frontcourt, while junior Sarah Brophy and sophomores Cassidy Carrafiello, Adrianne Torea, and Mara Sindoni will bolster the backcourt.
 
William Smith, which traditionally uses its defensive pressure to spark its offense, will be able to press and push the tempo more this year thanks to its returning experience and the addition of three talented first-year guards, Emma Gallagher, Annaliese Schreder, and Divya Tewari and sophomore guard Natalia Baum. A transfer from Connecticut College, Baum gives the Herons another player with starting experience. She played in 18 games, starting three, for the Camels last year, averaging 8.3 points and 3.4 rebounds.
 
William Smith aims to improve its 10-14 record of a year ago and bolster its 8-8 mark in league play. The Herons are eager to return to the Liberty League playoffs and will use a daunting non-conference schedule to prepare for their league slate. In addition to the Yellowjackets, William Smith will face regional rivals Cortland, Ithaca, and Hamilton on the road, while hosting Nazareth, St. John Fisher, and Brockport. William Smith will also play a pair of neutral site games in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in the Cruzin Classic, taking on Plattsburgh and 2016 national semifinalist Wartburg.