SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- The Augustana women's basketball team opens its 2019-20 season when it travels to Kirksville, Missouri, to take on Truman State on Saturday at 11 a.m. 

The Game
This is the third matchup between the two teams, the most recent in the 2017-18 season when Augie defeated Truman State 72-57 to open the season. Head coach David Krauth is 26-4 in season openers. 

The Bulldogs (2-0) 
The Bulldogs have started the season with back-to-back wins against Wisconsin-Parkside and Ursuline College in the GLIAC/GMAC/GLVC Conference Challenge. The Bulldogs defeated the Rangers 82-71 and Ursuline College 87-75. 

The Bulldogs return all but four seniors from last season's team that went 23-8 overall and 13-5 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. This season, Katey Klucking has led them in scoring with 21.5 in their first two games. The sophomore scored 22 points against Wisconsin-Parkside while scoring 21 against Ursuline College. 

Katie Jasecka and Makenzie Bray also average double-digit scoring with 15.5 and 13.0 points per game while Jasecka also averages 7 boards a contest. Maddie Re averages 4 points while Sloane Totta has dished out 15 assists while averaging 7.5 points.

As a team, Truman State averages 84.5 points on 52 percent from the field and 29 percent from downtown. The Bulldogs have grabbed 44 rebounds per game while facilitating 18 assists per game. Defensively, Truman State has forced 18 turnovers this season on 6.5 steals and has averaged 1.5 blocks a game.

The Vikings (0-0)
Augustana enters the 2019-20 season with all but three seniors from last year's team that went 22-11 and 13-9 in conference action. David Krauth returns for his 31st season at the helm of the Vikings and has a 628-269 record at Augustana. 

The Vikings return four players that started at least 15 games or more last season in Vishe' Rabb, Abby Hora, Hana Metoxen and Janelle Shiffler. 

Rabb returns as the reigning NSIC Freshman of the Year after averaging 10.7 points per game and 1.5 steals per game. She shot at a 46 percent clip and 33 percent from deep last season. Metoxen also returns after being named to the NSIC All-Defensive team last season. The Apple Valley, Minnesota, native swiped 39 steals to lead the Vikings defense. On the other side of the ball, the senior averaged 6 points and 4.2 boards a game.

The Vikings welcome three freshmen and four redshirt-freshmen into the mix this season including freshman Lauren Sees who scored 13 points and four assists in an exhibition win over Minnesota Morris in her unofficial debut as a Viking.

As a team, Augustana averaged 74.5 points per contest while shooting 41 percent from the field and 32 percent from beyond the arc. The Vikings grabbed 41 boards per game while also dishing out 15.2 assists per game.

One Last Thing
Head coach Dave Krauth starts his 31st season as coach of the women's basketball team. In his first 30 seasons as head coach, Krauth has only had one losing season in 2003-04 when the Vikings finished 13-15 overall. Krauth is the sixth-active head coach with 600 or more wins and the 15th coach all-time to do so in Division II.