Millersville, Pa. - The 2013-14 Millersville women's basketball team is one of the youngest and most inexperienced that Mary Fleig has coached during her 24 years at Millersville. The squad features just one senior and three juniors. The other 11 members of the team are either freshmen or sophomores.

"This is the biggest transition as far as amount of experience after graduation," said Fleig. "I've always had experience after kids graduated, but this is the least amount of experience returning."

Aurielle Mosley, Mashira Newman and Miesha Cousins are all gone from the 2012-13 Marauders who went 21-8 overall and 16-6 in PSAC play. Mosley, Newman and Cousins each started all 29 games last season while Mosley and Newman are two of Millersville's top five all-time scorers. Mosley is among the top ten in several career categories including rebounds (first), blocked shots (first), scoring (fifth), field goals made (fifth), field goal percentage (seventh),  free throw percentage (seventh), and free throws made (eighth). Newman leaves the program second in assists, third in steals, fourth in scoring, fourth in three-point field goal percentage, fourth in free throws made, fifth in field goals made, and tenth in blocked shots.

This year's team has some big shoes to fill and it starts with Carly Gallagher, a redshirt junior from East Stroudsburg. Gallagher is the leading returner for the Marauders after she averaged 10.7 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game last season. The guard also shot over 72 percent from the free throw line and 32.7 percent from behind the arc as a sophomore.

Joining Carly on the perimeter is Senada Mehmedovic and Celeste Robinson. Senada, the lone senior on the roster, returns as the number one 3-point threat for Millersville. The Carlisle native was a 33.1 percent 3-point shooter (53-of-160) for the Marauders in 2012-13. She also averaged 9.2 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game as a junior.

Robinson was known for her defense as a newcomer last season. The 5-8 guard from Kregsville was third on the team in steals with 65 and tallied 78 defensive rebounds--the most among any returner for Millersville. Robinson also showed signs on the offensive end averaging 7.2 points per game and shot 50.3 percent from the field.

Sabina Mehmedovic, Senada's sister, comes off the bench as another deep threat for the Marauders. The 5-10 junior averaged only 6.2 minutes per game as a sophomore but will be counted on for an expanded role this season.

"We have really balanced perimeter scoring in Carly and Senada, and Celeste has improved her three-point range," said Fleig. "We also have Sabina coming off the bench as a deep threat so we have a lot of balance there."

Yasmin Cooper, a 6-2 center, arrived on campus last season as a project, impressed with her athleticism and defensive ability. She figures to pick up the rebounding and shot-blocking load left by Mosley. Cooper averaged 4.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game last season. She also registered 19 steals and utilized her long wingspan to block 21 shots.

"Post-wise, we have kids that want to attack the rim, face the rim and take things off the dribble," said Fleig. "We're really able to run with our posts as well because they aren't even taking the ball out anymore and are just getting down the court."

Courtney Hinnant--5-10 freshman out of Spring-Ford High School--is also a player to watch in the paint.

"Courtney has the most experience amongst the four freshmen, and she has a very high basketball IQ."

Fleig's teams have always thrived on defense. Millersville has had one of the PSAC's top-five scoring defenses each of the past five seasons including the best scoring defense in 2009-10 (52.5 points per game allowed). This year won't be any different.

"We've got to play full court, end line to end line defense," said Fleig. "We will play efficiently, run on every offensive possession to extend teams and play good defense."

Fleig knows that if this team plays with efficiency, it will make up for a lot of things that were lost through graduation. Because so much talent was lost, Fleig has had to go back to basics with her young talent.

"It has been testing my patience this year," said Fleig. "This is a good challenge for me professionally that made me make some changes and do some different things."

This young team and those changes will be put to the test when Millersville begins its quest for an 18th-straight PSAC Tournament appearance on Nov. 9 at California (Pa.). Saturday night's tipoff is set for 7 p.m.