2021-22 women’s basketball season begins Saturday versus Mayville State

The Bemidji State University women’s basketball team opens the 2021-22 schedule at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13 against Mayville State University at BSU Gymnasium. The Beavers enter their 55th season as a program and the seventh under Head Coach Chelsea DeVille.

Bemidji State leads the all-time series against Mayville State, 35-5. BSU has won 14 in a row dating back to 2005. The Beavers and Comets last met on Nov. 22, 2019 in a 76-60 win for BSU. Senior guard Trinity Yoder (Myer) scored 18 points in the 2019 meeting, shooting 7-of-9 from the field with six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Senior guard Sydney Zerr added nine points with five rebounds, four assists and two steals and junior guard Coley Rezabek scored nine points off the bench, all from 3-pointers.

The series began in 1971, a 48-24 win by Bemidji State.

Bemidji State returns to action after a historic 2020-21 season, reaching the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament semifinals for the second time in program history. The Beavers finished last season 10-6 overall and 8-4 in conference play, which included only NSIC North Division opponents.

BSU was selected to finish sixth overall in the NSIC Preseason Coaches’ Poll and third in the NSIC North Division Poll. The sixth-place selection is the highest for the program since being ranked third prior to the 2007-08 season and the third-place selection in the NSIC North Division is the highest for BSU since divisions were created in 2012-13. The Beavers totaled 157 points in the overall poll and 37 points in the divisional in the 2021-22 NSIC Preseason Coaches’ Poll.

The Beavers are 4-2 in season openers and 4-2 in home openers under reining NSIC Coach of the Year Chelsea DeVille. BSU brings back four starters (Bachmann, Zerr, Yoder and Heittola) and 12 letter winners with five newcomers. Even during a shortened season in 2020-21, the Beavers compiled their most overall wins (10) since 2012-13 and most conference wins (8) since 2007-08. Last season, BSU ranked third in the league in field goal percentage (42.9%), fourth in 3-point field goal percentage (31.4%) and sixth in scoring defense (65.4 ppg).

Sophomore center Rachael Heittola was named the BSU Player to Watch after being selected to the 2020-21 All-NSIC First Team and Winter All-Academic Team. She is just the second Beaver named to the first team under DeVille. Heittola led BSU in scoring (15.3 ppg), field goal percentage (50.5%), rebounds (7.4 rpg) and blocks (0.9 bpg), and ranked third in the NSIC in field goal percentage, sixth in rebounds and seventh in scoring last season. She recorded six 20-point games, including both of BSU’s games in the NSIC Tournament, and totaled three double-doubles over 16 games.

Also returning as an All-NSIC Second Team selection last season is fifth-year senior Brooklyn Bachmann, who is 15 points shy of 1,000 for her career at BSU. She led the Beavers with 3.9 assists per game, ranked second with 5.9 rebounds per game and third with 12.0 points per game.

An All-NSIC Second Team selection in 2019-20, Trinity Yoder (Myer) returns for her fourth season with the program. She started all 16 games for BSU last season and led the team in steals (1.4 spg), ranked second in scoring (12.1 ppg) and assists (3.8 apg) and third in rebounds (4.9 rpg).