COLUMBIA, S.C. – After three straight appearances in the SIAC championship game and back-to-back NCAA tournament bids, the Benedict College Lady Tigers open the 2015-16 season with even bigger goals.

"We want to win a regular season championship, a tournament championship, and we want to win a regional championship," Benedict head coach James Rice said. "That's our goal. And that's the young ladies' goal. My goal is a lot higher. I want to win a national championship eventually. We've got the right mindset. We've just got to get better every day in practice. We're going to try and turn some heads and shock the world."

The Lady Tigers open the 2015-16 season at home on Tuesday night against Elizabeth City State University at 6 p.m.

After ending the 2014-15 season with back-to-back losses to Albany State in the 2015 SIAC tournament championship, and then to West Florida in the NCAA tournament, Rice wanted to add more offensive firepower to the Lady Tigers, and he thinks he has a good mixture with seven returnees and five newcomers.

I think we're going to be pretty good offensively, better than we've been in the past couple of years," Rice said. "I'm excited about this year. The last two games that we played, we lost, so I've been weighing that on my shoulders for the whole summer, until now. We finally get a chance to play."

The Lady Tigers return forward KaDeeja Vaughn, who was picked as a preseason All-Conference selection. She was third on the team last season in scoring at 9.4 points per game and is the leading returning scorer.

"She has a really big role. She's going to have to have some of that weight on her shoulders. She's ready for it. Every year, she's gotten better," Rice said. "I think she's going to have a big year this year."

Senior Dorothy Brown averaged 5.1 points last year, but played much of the season at point guard, not her natural position. She led the team with 30 3-pointers and will be counted on for that outside shooting this season.

"Dorothy Brown is going to be a big key to our success," Rice said. "Playing a position that she never played before as far as point guard, that took away from her shooting and she struggled a little bit. I think that experience is going to help her this year. She'll be a really good player this year."

Senior forward DaVontaye Merritt is also poised for a breakout season, Rice said.

"I think she's going to be the glue. Last year, we had a lot of other players surrounding her offensively. She never got that attention. This year, I think she's going to have a breakout season," Rice said. "Coming from junior college, she averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds. Last year she had to share some of that and she accepted her role as that person to come in and defend and rebound. This year, we're going to look towards her to do more, and I think she's capable of doing it."

Junior center Destiny Betts returns after averaging 5.1 points and 4.7 rebounds. She was also second on the team in steals despite averaging 16.5 minutes per game.

"She is a special type player. With her height and her length, and she has unbelievable quickness," Rice said. "She's got some of the quickest hands out there that I've seen in a while. Defensively, she's definitely going to be a spark for us. She went back home and improved on her offensive game. If scoring comes from her, that's a bonus, but I think she'll be able to score on the inside as well as mid-range."

Senior guard Kari Jones led Benedict in steals last season despite playing just 12 minutes per game. Rice sees a bigger role for her as well.

"Kari has stepped up, on her own, and is a team leader," Rice said. "She leads by example. She's a student-coach, but she's a player and she can play. Anytime you have a player who can play and lead the team, the other ones want to follow. I'm excited about Kari and what she's going to bring to the table."

Benedict's two sophomores – Victoria Dickerson and Deja Stallworth – saw limited action last season as freshmen, playing on a deep and veteran team. But Rice says they will be more involved this season.

"I think they're going to help us out a lot, too. Victoria can shoot the outside shot. Deja is pretty good down in the low post. They're going to help us out tremendously," Rice said.

Rice brought in a pair of transfers from Saint Augustine's University in guard Regime McCombs and forward Terri Jacobs. McCombs was the Falcons' leading scorer last season at 13.4 points per game, and connected on 79 3-pointers. Jacobs was third on the team in scoring at 11.4 points per game and was the leading rebounder at 9.6 per game.

"I guess it was coach's luck. Sometimes you get kids that come and want to be a part of your program and come to the school and be a Benedict College Tiger. I'm happy," Rice said. "Offensively, Regime can fill it up, and she's going to fill it up, I have no doubts about that. She's already had that success on the college level. I'm really excited about having a player like her.

"Terri, she's a small post player, but she can really get it done. She's a rebounding machine, and she can also score. She can score from the outside or beat you off the dribble and she can post up. Having that is going to help us tremendously on the offensive end. Last year we were struggling a little bit on the offensive end. We always had a good defense, but offensively, that's where I thought we had to get better in order to compete with these teams in the region."

Ieisha Hopwood is another transfer, coming from Alabama State Community College, where she averaged 4.7 points and 1.4 assists per game, but Rice said her stats are deceiving.

"It just so happens this young lady can flat-out play. She can play better than her numbers say at the junior college where she was at," Rice said. "I think once we get her to buy into our style of play and how we play defensively, I think she'll be able to help us, too. She can shoot the three."

Rice brought in two freshmen in Ph'Fronia Dixon from Belton, S.C., and Shirvel Luke from St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands.

"We wanted to bring in freshmen who could come in and play right away," Rice said. "These freshmen are capable of coming in and making an immediate impact. I look forward to them growing as a Tiger."

Luke is a six-foot athletic forward, while Dixon is a 5-10 guard.

"Shirvel is probably one of the most athletic players to ever come through Benedict. She's going to be a sight to see. She's fast, unbelievable speed, length, jumping ability, she's got a nice stroke from the outside, and she can get to the basket. I lucked up on her," Rice said. "Ph'Fronia, she's athletic, too. She can get to the basket and shoot the outside shot. These coaches slept on her and I'm happy. I was lucky enough to persuade those young ladies to come to Benedict. Both of those freshmen can play."

Rice said the key this season will be to mesh the veterans and the newcomers together.

"We already had a good foundation, now we want to add to that foundation," Rice said. "When I had a talk with the young ladies we brought in, I just wanted to make sure that they were on the same page. Sometimes when you play for another team, your role might not be the same with this team. I had to find out if they had strong minds. Are they willing to accept a different role? And all those young ladies came in with that attitude that whatever it takes, coach, we're going to do it. Whatever you need, we're going to do it."

Even with the added offensive weapons, the Lady Tigers will still be a strong defensive team with a focus on rebounding. Benedict has led the NCAA in rebounding margin the last two years.

"If they get a stop but they can't get that rebound, you're in trouble. I wanted to address that after that championship three years ago and I went after young ladies who could rebound and had that mentality. We rebound by committee. Everybody knows that's their role and we have to finish the defensive possession with the rebound. We stress that during the preseason and in practice," Rice said.

"Defensively, we've got to see if these newcomers can adapt to our system of play. But rebounding-wise, I think we're still going to be a good rebounding team."