CHICAGO – Under the tenure of first-year head coach Tasha Pointer, the UIC women's basketball team will begin the 2018-19 season by hosting Valparaiso on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. CT inside the UIC Pavilion.

Wednesday's game will air on NBC Sports Chicago+ in the Chicagoland market, and will also be simulcast on ESPN plus, which is subject to local blackout. An NBC Sports Chicago+ channel finder can be located here.

Starting Five

• UIC's roster boasts four seniors this year in Brittany Byrd, Taylor Toney, Kienya Jones and Catera Etheridge. Byrd is looking to follow up her second-straight season as the Flames' leading scorer, averaging 14.8 points per game last season.
• Toney averaged 13.7 ppg for second highest on the squad, and was also UIC's leader in assists (73) and steals (70). Both Toney and Byrd were named to the Horizon League's Preseason Second Team.
• Etheridge tallied the second-most assists with 61, and finished the season averaging 5.3 points per game and 2.1 rebounds per game. Jones tallied 11 points in 48 minutes last season, and also brought down 16 rebounds.
• The Flames are returning 80 percent of their scoring and 62 percent of their rebounding for the 2018-19 season. In that bunch sits junior Tylah Lampley, who averaged 6.1 points for the Flames last year and also led the squad with 25 blocks. Sophomore Tia Tedford looks to build on a late surge last season after tallying double-digit point efforts in four of the Flames' last eight games.
• Sophomore Jada Nneji also returns after reeling in 71 rebounds for UIC in her first year, while also contributing 16 blocks, 13 steals and 49 points. Sophomores Abreanna Lake and Kara Wilson will also be returning to the roster, tallying 46 and 30 points in 2017-18, respectively.

A New Era Begins

• The Flames embark on a new era of UIC women's basketball on Wednesday under first-year head coach Tasha Pointer. This season will serve as Pointer's first year at the helm of any team, following impressive careers both as an assistant coach, and as a player. Pointer's decorated playing career began not far from UIC's campus on Chicago's Near West Side. A Parade First Team All-American and the Chicago Sun-Times Player of the Year out of Whitney Young High School, Pointer left her mark on Chicago prior to her collegiate career at Rutgers.
• A four-year starter at Rutgers, Pointer became one of the top point guards in program history. She was the 1998 Big East Rookie of the Year and a two-time First Team selection. Pointer led her class to 10 wins in the NCAA tournament, earning two NCAA All-Tournament Team selections. She led the Big East in assists twice. The WBCA and the Associate Press both placed her on their honorable mention All-America teams twice. She was voted the team's MVP or co-MVP all four years and left Rutgers as the school's all time – men's and women's – leader in assists and steals.
• Pointer served as an assistant coach nearby at Northwestern last season, following a two-year stint at St. John's. She helped lead the Red Storm to the Big East tournament championship and an NCAA tournament berth in 2016.
• Prior to her time in Queens, Pointer was on the legendary C. Vivian Stringer's staff at Rutgers for eight years. In that time, she was part of six NCAA tournament teams, including an Elite Eight squad and a Sweet Sixteen group.
• Before returning to her alma mater, Pointer coached for two seasons at Columbia and one at Xavier, where the Musketeers won the Atlantic 10 championship.
• Pointer will be returning to a familiar venue in the UIC Pavilion, having won the  Public League Championship within its walls back in 1995 with Whitney Young.

Fresh Faces

• Freshmen Tatum McCall and Jasmine Gaines, as well as junior transfer Christelle Nyauchi are new to UIC's roster for 2018-19. McCall hails from Monticello, Ill., earning First Team All-Conference honors in the Okaw Valley Conference. McCall also garnered First Team All-Area and Third Team All-State recognition during her prep career.
• Gaines was a 2018 Colorado State Runner-up her senior year after winning the conference championship alongside her teammates. The Denver, Colo. native was named Second Team All-Conference in 2018 after leading her team in defensive stops.
• Nyauchi is native to Harare, Zimbabwe, and comes to Chicago following a two-year stint at Iowa Western Community College, where she participated in the 2016-17 NJCAA National Tournament. Nyauchi participated in the 2014 Africa Youth Olympics, and was a member of the U16 and U18 Zimbabwe National Teams.

Scouting Valparaiso

• Former Horizon League member Valparaiso is also beginning a new era under first-time head coach Mary Evans. Evans spent the last five years as an assistant with Ohio University, helping the Bobcats to three seasons of 22 wins or more as well as three postseason appearances.   
• The Crusaders are returning nine of their top 10 scorers including four starters from 2017-18, despite losing its top scorer in Dani Franklin.
• The Flames own a slight edge all-time against Valparaiso, 24-23, but the Crusaders took the last meeting back in Feb. of 2017, while Valparaiso was still a member of the Horizon League.

For additional game notes and a link to the live stats, please see the blue box above.