Lakeland College will begin a new women's basketball season in style this weekend, welcoming three other schools for the Lakeland Tip-Off Classic Friday and Saturday at the Moose & Dona Woltzen Gymnasium.

The Muskies begin their season when they host Carthage College at 6 p.m. on Friday in the first of two games. The night's second contest features Nebraska Wesleyan University taking on Simpson (Iowa) College at 8 p.m. Play will then continue on Saturday with the consolation game at 1 p.m. and the championship game to follow at 3 p.m.

Friday will mark the debut for new Lakeland head coach Aaron Nester. He leads a team that returns all five starters from a year ago, including guards Trista Barron (Sr.-Escanaba, Mich.), Kayla Clark (Jr.-West Bend, Wis.) and Bailey Grayvold (Jr.-Norway, Mich.) and frontcourt players Maddy Doll (So.-Florence, Wis.) and Rachel Stankevich (So.-Goodman, Wis.). The Muskies finished 10-16 overall last year and 9-11 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference.

Carthage went 15-11 last year and finished 8-6 in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin. The Lady Reds are an almost all-new team, returning just one starter-senior guard Erin Thomas-and featuring only four returning letter winners on their roster. Though relatively close to Lakeland from their Kenosha location, this is the first meeting between the two schools in 15 years.

Nebraska Wesleyan finished with a 2-23 overall record last year while competing in the very tough NAIA Division II Great Plains Athletic Conference. The Prairie Wolves will travel to the tourney from Lincoln, Neb., but have a distinct connection with Lakeland. Head coach Britni Fett was an assistant coach for the Muskies for two years from 2011-13, including serving five games as interim head coach while former coach Lindsey Vande Hoef was on a brief maternity leave. Three starters return for NWU, including leading scorer Felicia TeKolste, who averaged 17.4 points per game a year ago.

Simpson finished 16-10 last year, including 6-8 in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Storm from Indianola, Iowa, is led by longtime coach Brian Niemuth, who enters his 29th year at the school. Three starters return for Simpson, including leading scorer Mackenzie Haupt.

Live video and live statistics will be available for both of Friday's games, and live stats will also be available for both of Saturday's contests. Live video will be available for the championship game but will be unavailable for the consolation game due to the Lakeland/Benedictine football game at the same time. The live link will be http://portal.stretchinternet.com/lc/.

More tournament info is available here