Some of those players were stars at Ohio State. Guard/forward Lisa Cline was a Kodak Honorable Mention All-American and Jamie Lewis was the Most Valuable Player of the NIT last year.
"What the coaches told us about them was kind of intimidating but when you get out there you can't really think about that," freshman point guard Jess Strom said.
The team the Lions play tonight is from Holland and is sponsored by Basketball Travelers. Head coach Rene Portland said that she feels her team matches up well with the Jumpers.
"I think we match up a little better with them size-wise," Portland said. "They're a fast-break team. They do a lot of quick passing and cutting, which is typical for a European team."
Playing a fast break team may present some problems for the Lions. Conditioning is often hard for freshmen to get used to and that has been the case with the Lady Lions this season.
Portland has cited conditioning as a problem some of her players still have to work on. If their endurance is still suffering tonight it may be hard for them to keep up with a fast-break style of offense. Portland has been stressing defense to her players and she believes that they will show improvement soon.
"We have made that a real point of emphasis," Portland said. "I think they get the message. They are young kids learning our defense for the first time. They'll get better the more we work on it."
One Lady Lion who was not able to help the defense in the last game is senior center/forward Rashana Barnes. Barnes has been nursing her knees early on this year and has been playing every other day. Portland said that Barnes is scheduled to play tonight and that after today she will be play everyday.
Offensively the team knows it can count on sophomore guard Kelly Mazzante for much of its scoring. The National Freshman of the Year showed that she is ready to follow last year with another great season. She led both teams on Wednesday with 29 points and a stellar 61 percent field goal percentage.
Mazzante played well and the team came away with a win on Wednesday but Portland is still looking for her team to improve tonight.
"I would like to see them be more comfortable within themselves," Portland said. "Five years ago I had a young team like this and we lost both exhibition games. But this is a very intelligent group of players for being so young. They're just tentative. The defense will come around, but offense is natural for this group."