SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State women's basketball team will start its 40th season of play this Friday against St. Mary's at 12 p.m. at the Tarleton State Invitational in Stephenville.
 
The Belles are coming off a 14-13 season and head coach Cayla Petree, in her second season, has two returners and 16 newcomers.  ASU will also play Southern Arkansas at 12 p.m. on Saturday with the game being broadcasted on 1260AM KKSA. The Belles will play their home debut on Tuesday, Nov. 18 against UTPB at 6 p.m. 
 
Angelo State women's basketball has an all-time record of 578-522. The Belles have won four conference championships and made four NCAA Division II National Tournaments in the program's 40-year history. It will be the ninth time the Belles have faced St. Mary's to open the season.
 
The two returners, Michelle Rosewell and Amanda Weaver, are set to provide leadership and experience for the Belles. Roswell started 15 games at point guard last season averaging 3.2 points and dishing out 68 assists. Weaver is a shooting threat and made 42.9-percent from the 3-point line last season.
 
The newcomers are highlighted by a diverse group of Division I transfers, junior college transfers and freshmen. Jasmine Caston and Jackie Patterson, both Division I transfers, bring experience to the team. Patterson was the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year last season at Texas Tech while Caston scored 5.0 points per game in 30 games at Texas Tech last year.
 
Jasmine Patterson, Jackie's twin sister, played at Hutchinson Junior College for two seasons. She scored 12.9 points per game and led HCC to the national semifinals in 2013.
 
West Texas provided some quality players for Petree with Elaine Herrera, Shanna Taylor and Diamalises Rivera. Herrera, who played her high school ball at Midland High, transferred from Jefferson College. She hit 47-percent from behind the arc and was No. 7 in NJCAA in 3-point shooting percentage. Taylor, a guard from Odessa, transferred from Odessa College after playing high school ball at Permian. She played in 28 games last season at Odessa College. Rivera, a Puerto Rican native, is a Midland College transfer. The junior scored 10.1 points per game and grabbed 6.1 rebounds last season.
 
Lexi Murphy, a transfer from Northeast Community College, hit 31.8-percent from the 3-point line last year. Keva Raiford played at Lamar Community College last season and scored 8.2 points.
 
Five freshmen, Shauna Coleman, KeAnna Kelly, Kylie Rollman, Kietta Saunders and Daley Gay, could all see significant playing time. Coleman was named all-state three times at Lipan and scored 16.5 points per game. Kelly averaged 14.0 points per game and was an all-state selection. Rollman scored 10.8 points per game at Scotus Central Catholic in Columbus, Neb. Saunders scored 12.7 points and recorded 5.6 assists at St. Joseph High in Illinois. Gay was an honorable mention all-state selection after scoring 10.0 points per game at Waurika High.
 
Allison Gordon, Alexandria Box and Destiny Wade will redshirt for the Belles this season.
 
The Rattlers return their top two scorers in Jackie Woods (15.8) and Morgan Pullins (11.6) from last year's 22-7 squad that advanced to the NCAA Division II South Central Regional. St. Mary's trails the overall series 26-20 but has won five of the last six matchups. The last time these two teams met was in November of 2013 in a 51-40 Rattler win in San Antonio.
 
Southern Arkansas went 12-15 last season and will face Tarleton State prior to playing the Belles. Rusty Rainbolt is in his second season at the helm for the Muleriders. SAU returns leading scorer Chanel Miller who averaged 15.6 points per game last year. This will be the first meeting between the two schools.