GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The University of Providence women's basketball team will look to come away with three tough victories at the Cactus Classic in Phoenix, Ariz. this week. The tournament will kick off on Dec. 20 at 12:00 p.m. MTN with a game against Saint Francis.

"I couldn't be more excited," head coach Bill Himmelberg said. "The semester is over so we can just focus on basketball while we're down here. The girls looked really good this week. I'm excited to see what we can do."

The tournament will mark the first time the team will take the court since Dec. 4, a route against MSU-Northern. The Argos (10-3, 1-1) have had a good two weeks of practice since then, giving them enough time to go over the fundamentals and prepare against their three opponents.

"The break has been good for us," Himmelberg said. "Everyone is healthy and we're all feeling good. We've been able to clean up some stuff offensively and defensively. We've added some new things. I feel really confident about where we're at right now."

The team is looking at the tournament as a way to prepare for conference games. The Argos will kick off the tournament against the Fighting Saints (11-3, 8-1) who have already competed in nine conference games. They'll then take on Benedictine-Mesa before concluding the tournament with a game against Dakota State, who eliminated the Argos in the NAIA National Tournament last season.

"These games are really important," Himmelberg said. "It's really important for us to get our chemistry down, our timing down. We're trying to play teams at the conference-caliber level. We need to stay in that mindset."