GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The 25^th ranked University of Providence women's basketball team will begin their season on Monday with a trip down to Butte to face off against Montana Tech. The game will tip off at 5 p.m.

When the Argos take the court on Monday, it'll be a total of 303 days since they last played a game. This will be first game for the Argos since the Frontier Conference Championship game against Lewis-Clark State last season in March.

"Our girls are excited to play," head coach Bill Himmelberg said. "They are energized and are just ready to be out on the court again for a real game."

The Argos are one of two teams in the Frontier Conference that haven't played a game yet this season – Rocky Mountain College is the other. The Argos, who returned to campus in the middle of December, haven't even had a full month of preseason to utilize. However, Himmelberg has been impressed with the work the team did indvidually before they were allowed to gather.

"Our girls came in in-shape and ready to go," he said. "We look really good right now. Practice has been going great."

On the other hand, the Orediggers have had four games under their belt so far. They won their opening game against Montana Western, but have lost three straight since.

"They're a really good team top to bottom," Himmelberg said. "They have a lot of nice pieces and they're very talented. We feel confident in our matchups and we're just going to have to play well. It isn't going to be easy. I would expect the games to be close. We're just going to have to come out and compete the whole time."

Even though it's going to be an unusual season, the Argos enter the season with high expectations, having been picked to finish second in the conference. The Argos return three starters from last season's conference championship team. The Argos, who went 21-12 last season, earned a 6-seed in the NAIA National Tournament before the season was canceled.

"We talk with them about the weirdness of the year all the time," Himmelberg said. "We're just going to be very flexible. We've talked about doing whatever it takes. We'll move forward and make the best out of whatever situation is thrown our way. We want to enjoy every minute we can be together in the gym."

To combat any early-season struggles that a shortened preseason may bring, the Argos will lean on their two senior captains: Parker Esary and Emilee Maldonado. Esary, a 2^nd Team All-American last season, was named the Preseason Frontier Conference Player of the Year. Maldonado, a 3^rd-Team All-American, was named Preseason 1^st Team All-Conference.

The Argos will count on experience from Kenedy Cartwright, who won a Frontier Conference Player of the Week award last season, Brooklyn Harn, Reed Hazard and Kerstyn Pimperton will also be expected to carry big roles for the Argos. 

"Our returners are going to be a big part of what we do," Himmelberg said. "But we also have a lot of girls who were younger last year that played a lot. We've added some new pieces in the younger category who are going to help us right away. We just feel like we're really deep."

Another added scheduling challenge will be the back to back scheduling that the conference adopted. To minimize risk and exposure, all teams will be playing the same team on back to back nights. So after the game on Monday, the same two teams will play again on Tuesday.

"Nobody is going to be the same night in and night out," Himmelberg said. "Whatever a team does the first night you have to expect them to do something else the second night. It gives teams a real opportunity to try some different things and explore what you're prepared to handle."