DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Bethune-Cookman begins a third consecutive run for the ring and beyond Friday when the two-time Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular season champions meet Edward Waters in their season opener at 6 p.m. in Historic Moore Gymnasium.

The Lady Wildcats are coming off a 21-11 season that included a 15-1 run through MEAC play and the program's first MEAC tournament appearance championship game in 25 years. Bethune-Cookman made its second straight WNIT appearance, falling to Wake Forest in the opening round.

Gone from last year's squad are Kendra Cooper, the program's all-time three-point leader and Kailyn Williams, the fifth-leading shot blocker in the history of Division I women's basketball as well as role players Taylor Houston and Alea Godfrey.

Returning is senior point guard Emily Williams and junior forward Ashanti Hunt, who was voted a pre-season First Team All-Conference selection.

Friday's opener precedes the men's opener against Johnson (Fla.) and is the first of 15 home games for the Lady Wildcats this season.

SHE'S THE COACH: Vanessa Blair-Lewis begins her 10^th season as Head Coach of The Lady Wildcats coming off a year she repeated as MEAC Coach Of The Year (her third overall) and one in which her team registered its highest win total since 1984.She enters the season two victories from her 250^th career win.

OPENING NIGHT: B-CU is 24-17 in season openers since the program was reinstated in 1976. The Lady Wildcats are 6-3 in season openers in the Blair-Lewis era (She's 7-11 overall), including last year's 55-45 win over Edward Waters that ended three consecutive years of 0-1 starts.

ON A ROLE: Current streaks the Lady Wildcats are enjoying:
Consecutive Regular season wins: 9
Consecutive MEAC wins: 10 (dating back to 2015-16)
Consecutive Home wins: 5
Consecutive MEAC Home Wins: 5
Consecutive Road MEAC Wins: 8
Consecutive Games With A 3-pointer: 123 (dating back to 3/12/13 vs. Del State at MEAC tournament)
 
DEFENSE, DEFENSE: One last look at the two signature stats of the 2016-17 campaign. B-CU was eighth in the nation in total defense at 54.7 ppg and second only behind Baylor in field goal percentage defensive (32.0).
 
IT'S BECAUSE WE'RE WINNERS: Two stat notes about the 2017-18 team:
1) This is the first time since 1990 where every player on the team has a winning record
2) This is the first group since 2003 to have 2 winning Seasons and consecutive winning seasons.
 
SCOUTING EDWARD WATERS: Coached by former B-CU assistant Charmaine Wilson, the Tigers are 6-1 coming off a 54-45 win at Webber Monday (They played Voorhees late Thursday).  Jermisha Collins is averaging 11.5 ppg and Lashe Kirkland 10.7 ppg while Britany Rowell is averaging 7.8 rebounds per game … The Lady Wildcats are 5-0 vs. Edward Waters in the Blair-Lewis era.
 
FRIDAY'S COVERAGE: Cateye Network will be webcasting the game (Erick White on play-by-play,
Tyhid McDougle color) at 6 p.m. Follow our official twitter feeds (@bcuathletics and @bcuwbb) for links to live stats, in-game comments and comprehensive post-game coverage).