Harper Taylor describes herself as someone "who can be patient."

Waiting for the Kansas Wesleyan women's basketball team's season opener to arrive has been difficult though.

"I'm very go, go, go, very driven, very tenacious in how I do things and it has been very difficult for me in the past couple weeks to wait for tipoff," said Taylor who was named KWU's coach in May after two seasons as an assistant at Metro State-Denver.

Suffice it to say she has not been bored during the wait – her and her staff's efforts to prepare the Coyotes for the game against Dakota State inside Mabee Arena have been strenuous and continuous.

"It feels like there is so much that needs to be accomplished but there also is only so much time that you have and so you're in a race against time of figuring out which piece is needed the most on what day," she said.

Progress has been noticeable.

"I think so far our crew with all of the changes that we've had they've been able to adjust," Taylor said. "It's been great getting to know them, them getting to know me but at the end of the day it's being able to put all of those pieces together. Being on the Kansas Wesleyan floor in a white jersey is something that everyone looks forward to all year long.

"I'm incredibly excited for tipoff to see how they handle adversity, how I have been able to change things around and how that can be a positive light. Their reactions to how I do things have been very fun too. I'll change something up and they're like 'why are we doing this?' Then I'll answer the why and their faces are 'oh, that makes sense.'"

A big plus is the fact Taylor isn't a stranger to KWU having served as former coach Ryan Showman's assistant during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. Despite being in her rookie year as a head coach she has a clear idea what she wants her team to be.

"I envision this team being very unselfish, I envision this team really working together and being able to put something on the floor that hasn't been put on the floor at Kansas Wesleyan before," she said. "I know they have it in them. I feel like I've built a really strong connection between me and the team."

Five Coyotes who saw duty last season return – junior point guard Odessa Ozuna, junior forward Paige Chauncey, senior forward Jocelyn Hall and senior guards Adriana DiPrima and Madison Lambert.

Ozuna averaged 8.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 32 games.

"She's filling some pretty big shoes with LaMyah Ricks who had been the point guard here for five years," Taylor said. "I do think that she learned a lot from LaMyah, and I think that she is in the most perfect position she could be to lead our team."

Chauncey is the lone returning starter from 2024-25 when she averaged 7.7 points and 4.9 rebounds last winter. Hall was a backup and averaged 4.7 points and 4.4 rebounds, Lambert averaged 2.2 points and shot 37.8 percent from 3-point range and DiPrima 1.3 points.

"I've coached (Lambert and DiPrima) before and feel like I can get another gear out of them," Taylor said. "I've already noticed they are not the same players they were even in March."

Taylor is excited about wing Izzy McCool, a transfer from Dordt.

"She does not act like she is a junior transfer from another NAIA school; she acts like she's been at Kansas Wesleyan since she was a freshman," she said. "She has such a good attitude and it's infectious to the people around her and the girls around her."

Two freshmen who could also see action early on are post player Raegann McDonald from Clay Center and guard Anna Jueneman from Hanover.

Taylor will be joined on the bench by assistants Hailey Jordan and Preston Hardee.

Taylor said she's learning along with her players.

"Where an assistant coach sits and where a head coach stands is like two feet –it's the longest two feet I've ever known," Taylor said. "There's a big difference between being the HC and the AC. It will be really interesting to see how our first couple of games go to see if I need to adjust things in practice because I don't mind doing that."

KWU plays Dakota State at 6 p.m. Oct. 31 then takes on William Penn at 4 p.m. the following day in Mabee Arena.