Utica, NY - The Utica College women's basketball team is set to continue its three-game, season-opening homestand Saturday afternoon, hosting the Well College Express at Miga Court. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.

Follow Along: Live video and stats of Saturday's game, and every Utica College women's basketball home game, is available at portal.stretchinternet.com/utica/. Fans can also see all Utica home games, and most Empire 8 Conference away games on the free Empire 8 app available for Roku, AppleTV, and Amazon Fire devices.

Strong Start: The Pioneers are off to a 2-0 start for the third consecutive year. The squad has also outsourced its opponents 182-91 thus far, which is the largest margin of victory over the first two games of the season in program history.

Last Time Out: The Utica College women's basketball advanced to 2-0 with a convincing 83-57 win over Potsdam Tuesday night in the eighth annual Brooks Miles game. Senior guard Nicolette Conkin (Los Altos, CA/Homestead) served as UC's catalyst all night, posting a career-high 28 points while also adding five assists and four rebounds.Conkin wasted no time setting the tone in this one, as she poured in six of Utica's first eight points to take an early 8-0 lead not even two minutes into this contest. She kept things rolling from there, outscoring the entire Potsdam team in the first quarter with 15 points to carry a 30-14 lead heading into the second quarter. A bulk of Conkins' scoring came from the charity stripe, as she went 7 of 8 from the line on the night. Potsdam bounced back with a small run of its own to start the second quarter and drew within eight, but this was the closest margin it would see for the rest of the game. Sophomore Sydney Przygoda (Freehold, NJ/Freehold) was also a huge part of this victory, finishing the game with her first double-double of the season with 20 points and 16 rebounds. Junior Brigid Johndrow (Bristol, CT/St. Paul Catholic) created most  of the opportunities for the Pioneers this evening, as she tabbed a game-high six assists and added seven points in the process. 

Team Effort: Utica leads the Empire 8 across the board in many different statistical categories, including points per game (91), points allowed per game (45.5), field goal percentage (51.9%) and free throw percentage (70%).

Rockin' Conkin: Senior Nicolette Conkin (Los Altos, CA/Homestead) has been the battery to this team so far in 2019, as she currently leads the league with 20.5 points per game. The California native is also averaging six assists per game, which is good for second-most in the league. Junior Brigid Johndrow (Bristol, CT/St. Paul Catholic) sits right behind Conkin in the No. 3 slot, averaging 5.5 assists per game.

In the Paint: Sophomore Syndey Przygoda has been one of the most efficient bigs in the league throughout the first two games. Przygoda is averaging a conference-best 12 rebounds while also adding 19.5 points per game, which is good for third-most in the Empire 8. Przygoda has also shot an impressive 68 percent from the field, ranking her at No. 2 in the conference.

Roster Blueprint: Utica welcomes five new faces to its roster this season, all of which are freshmen: Emily Allard (Fletcher, VT/Bellows Free Academy), Kaitlyn Furner (Hubbardsville, NY/Sherburne-Earlville), Julia Rotando (Cold Spring, NY/Haldane), Cassie Chalon (Norwich, NY/Cato-Meridian) and Kristine Miller (Red Hook, NY/Red Hook). The rest of the team is very evenly distributed when it comes to experience, as this year's team showcases four sophomores, three juniors and three seniors.

The Big Three: The Pioneers only graduated four seniors from last year's roster and return a wealth of talent this season, including their top three scorers.Przygoda headlines this returning class, as she finished her freshman campaign averaging a double-double with a team-high 14.3 points and a conference-best 11.9 rebounds per game. Conkin served as the facilitator for the Pioneers, finishing the season with a team-high 130 assists while also averaging just over 12 points per game. Conkin's success in distributing the ball landed her the No. 2 overall Empire 8 spot in assists. Johndrow was also an integral part of the Pioneer's backcourt, as she posted 9.6 points per game and finished the season with 111 assists.

Scouting Wells: The Express sport an 0-2 record thus far in their 2019 campaign. They dropped their first game of the season to D'Youville 80-32 and then fell to Alfred State, 62-41. Wells hosted both of these games.

Undefeated History: This matchup has been a lopsided one, as UC holds a perfect 4-0 record against Wells since the teams first started playing each other in 2011. The closest margin of victory for Utica came in 2017 when it won by 14 points by a score of 63-49.

Up Next: The Pioneers have a brief two-day break before heading on the road for the first time this season to Oneonta for a non-conference game on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.