This fall the Pioneer women’s basketball team looks forward to a new season and a fresh start. Riddled with injuries last year the Pioneers finished the season with a record of 6-22 and zero wins on the road. The team is ranked fourth in the Sun Belt Conference Coach’s Poll based on their play in the previous season. Even with a down year last season there is nothing but confidence flowing from the team leading up to this season. Head Coach Pam Tanner is excited to start the season, putting a lot of confidence in the leadership of the team. “One of the things that has been a real positive for us is our leadership this season,” Tanner said before practice on Friday. “Two hours after we finished our last game last year we picked captains for this year, and the three captains: senior Venice Adams, sophomore Brooke Meyers and junior Tyesha Lowery have all taken ownership of that responsibility, and I think we’re a closer knit team right now then we were at any point last season.”Co-captain Brooke Meyers felt good about the chemistry of the team as well. “To actually have a full locker room boosts up the chemistry and team morale; it gives us a better shot to win the games we want to win,” Meyers said Friday. She also felt that having “three captains aids in the team chemistry.” Brooks also mentioned that “nearly every class is represented” by the captains. Adams will return for her final season at DU. Last year she was one of the leading scorers with 115 field goals and she had the most rebounds with 171, 70 of those being offensive. Junior Tyesha Lowery was injured in the first game of last season and was forced to watch her team struggle through the year. She said Friday that she is “excited to play again” and has the hope that this season the team will have a winning record and “win Sun Belt and go to the NCAA tournament.” Coach Tanner believes that Lowery is “the one player on our team that can not only create a shot for herself, she can also create a shot for her teammates.” Tanner also said, “she is really good at getting to the basket. That’s a dimension on our team that we didn’t have last year.”The Pioneers will be joined by five incoming freshman including Sara Bents, Anne Jasperson, Nnenna Akotaobi, Andie Mason, and Christina Hurtado. Additions to the team expand further than the court; two new assistant coaches, Tanya Haave and Marisa Moseley, will aid Coach Tanner from the bench. Assistant Coach Tracy Tripp will return for her 10th season at DU helping the team from the sidelines. Haave and Moseley contribute different strengths to the team. Haave played for the University of Tennessee and then played professionally in France and several other countries. Coach Tanner said “Haave brings a wealth of playing experience” to the team and is a “welcomed addition.” Moseley is younger than Haave and the rest of the coaching staff. Being only a couple of years removed from the players gives her a unique position to be able to relate the players about any problems or issues they may be having. “Change is always hard, I think in this particular case it’s been really good,” Tanner said on Friday when asked about the additions to the coaching staff. Haave, recently inducted into the University of Tennessee Lady Vol Hall of Fame, is “really excited” to come to Denver and contribute to the team which has a “reputation of a really good coaching staff and strong tradition.”The other members of the team are Samantha Winter, Jenna Cole, Ali Butler, Lauren Reini, and Sara Benham. The Pioneers will play two exhibition games in Denver, Metro State on Nov. 3 and Adams State on Nov. 12, and will then start the regular season in Beaumont, Texas where they will play Lamar. The Pioneers won’t have any home games until the academic quarter has ended. They return home Dec. 2 to start a four game home stint in which they will face Portland, Wyoming, Colorado State and Boise State. SBC play will not begin until Jan. 5 when the team plays at Louisiana-Lafayette.