NEW ULM, Minn. --- Crown Women's Basketball began their season on Monday, facing Martin Luther in a non-conference matchup. The Knights defeated the Storm 86-56 in a contest that stayed much closer than the final score throughout. Although playing conference opponents in non-conference matchups not often done in collegiate basketball, this year has been anything but usual due to the ongoing pandemic. This season, Head Coach Kevin Boozikee's team is full of youth, with no seniors and seven of his nine athletes playing at least ten minutes underclasswomen.

Sophomore Dominique Urbina was one point off the high-point scorer with 14 points in the contest, leading the Storm in production as she began her second campaign. Urbina added six rebounds and a team-high four assists. Fellow sophomore Amy Martius added nine points and six rebounds, and first-year McKenzie Latzke also scored nine off the bench. 

First-year May Laverty scored seven points and had a team-high seven boards at the beginning of her collegiate career. Junior Katie Archer added six points and seven rebounds, sharing Laverty's team-high. First-year Raelin Smalley scored six and grabbed four rebounds in her debut, and junior Shauna Thompson scored three and had six rebounds. First-year Grace Lindgren finished the scoring for the Storm with two points.

Sasha Broniola, Naomi Boland, and Sydney Vang all made their collegiate debuts in New Ulm, and junior Thiery Zachary made her season debut. 

The Storm ran a balanced offense with eight players having a usage percentage between 19%-25% and 13 players earning playing time in their matchup with the Knights. After beginning the game shooting 4/9 from three-point range, the Storm cooled off from long range, making only one more shot from beyond the arc in the rest of the contest. 

Crown will move on quickly as they host their first game of the season on Thursday against Bethany Lutheran College to begin conference play. Thursday's matchup against the Vikings will mark the first Crown-hosted contest in the 2020-21 season, the first since the last basketball game of the season in February 2020. Unfortunately, due to gym size restrictions and COVID-19 protocols, the Storm will not allow spectators this season at the Wild Athletic Center; however, the Crown College Sports Network will live-stream all games from Crown's campus for free, with links provided on the Crown Athletics website.