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The Mustang womens basketball team (3-4, 1-3) travels to Fairbanks, Alaska, this Saturday, Dec. 16 to battle the University of Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks (4-5). Tip-off for the first ever meeting between the schools is scheduled for 8 p.m CST.
On Sunday night, Dec. 17 SMSU will conclude the two-game non-conference road trip with an 8 p.m. match-up versus University of Alaska Anchorage (9-0) at Wells Fargo Sports Complex in Anchorage, Alaska.

The Records
Southwest Minnesota State has a record of 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the NSIC ... The Mustangs went 0-2 this past weekend after losing to University of Mary and #18 Northern State ... University of Alaska Fairbanks has a record of 4-5 ... University of Alaska Anchorage in undefeated with a 9-0 record.

Game Day Storlines
SMSU is now in its 38th season of collegiate basketball ... the Mustangs have an all-time record of 501-408 ... SMSU is currently on a three-game losing steak, last season they had a nine game losing streak ... Liz Grider leads SMSU in scoring as she averages 11.1 ppg ... Sara Leidall is second averaging 10.1 ppg ... Leidall is also SMSUs leading rebounder with a 4.4 rpg average ... SMSU finished the 2005-06 season with a 7-21 overall record and 4-10 in the NSIC.

Last Weeks Game Notes
SMSU shot a season high 45.2 percent versus Mary.
SMSU shot a season low 21. 1 percent versus Northern State.
SMSU made a season high 9 three pointers against Mary with 7 coming in the first half.
SMSU scored a season low of 38 points against Northern State, the last time SMSU did not reach the 40 point mark was last season versus South Dakota State as they lost 31-56.
SMSU did not have anyone score in double digits versus Northern, this marks the first time this season, SMSU has not had a player score in double digits.

Series History (all-time series scores and notes on page 4)
SMSU will take on Alaska Fairbanks and Alaska Anchorage for the first time in school history when then match up this weekend.

Scouting Alaska-Fairbanks
Alaska-Fairbanks is currently 4-5 overall and 0-0 in the GNAC. Fairbanks is led by Kari Reabold who is averaging 16.9 ppg and leads the team in rounding with 8.1 rbg ... second on the team is Cristina Bruketta who averages 10. 0 ppg ... UAF recently suffered two losses to St. Cloud State University and North Dakota ... St. Cloud beat the Nanooks 82-71, while North Dakota defeated them 107-79 ... junior guard Reabold scored 28 points and had eight rebounds versus North Dakota.

Scouting Alaska-Anchorage
Alaska-Anchorage remain unbeaten as they have a 9-0 overall record and are 0-0 in the GNAC ... Anchorage is led by Rebecca Kielpinski and Jayci Stone who are averaging 13.7 and 12.4 points per game ... Kielpinski is also the teams leading rebounder with 9.7 rbg average ... UAA defeated Cal State-Monterey Bay (Calif.) twice this past weekend by scores of 75-68 and 79-70 ... Jayci Stone and Jennifer Salazar each tallied 15 points in the game on Saturday.
SMSU Head Coach Mike Jewett
Southwest Minnesota State head coach Mike Jewett is in first season as head womens basketball coach at Southwest Minnesota State University. Jewett, who is the sixth head coach in the programs 38-year history, was named to the position on Apr. 17, 2006.
Jewett comes to Southwest Minnesota State following a two-year stay as an assistant coach at St. Cloud State University. Prior to St. Cloud he was head coach at Franklin, Ind., for three seasons. During his tenure he compiled a 62-20 record. In his final season at Franklin College in 2003-04, he led his team to the second round of the NCAA tournament, a conference championship and was named conference coach of the year. Jewett has a current overall record of 65-24 and 1-3 in the NSIC.

Opponent Head Coaches
Alaska Fairbanks head coach Lynne Andrew is in her 4th year at the helm of the Alaska Nanook womens basketball program ... Alaska Anchorage head coach Tim Moser is in this first season with the Seawolves ... he was previously a coach at Otero (Colo.) Junior College where he compiled a 137-34 record and won five straight conference championships... he as compiled a 9-0 record at UAA.

#18 Northern State Defeats SMSU
Southwest Minnesota State shot a season-low 21.1 percent from the field and suffered an 83-38 loss to 18th-ranked Northern State on Saturday night in Aberdeen, S.D.
The Mustangs drop their third straight game as they now have a record of 3-4 overall and fall to 1-3 in the NSIC. With the win Northern is at the top of the NSIC as they are 4-0 and 9-1 overall.
The Wolves shot 53.2 percent from the field as they were led by Jessica Deinert who had 12 points. She was the only NSU player to score in double digits but everyone on the Northern team saw playing time during the game.
The Mustangs struggled shooting as they were just 6-31 from the field in the second half. The Mustangs were led in scoring by Megan Wittkop who had 8 points while Liz Grider was second with 7 points.
SMSU committed 21 turnovers and were outrebounded by NSU by a margin of 14 as Northern grabbed 46 boards and SMSU had 32. The Mustangs were led by Andrea Fennern who grabbed eight boards. Kady Telschow was second with four and led the team in steals with four as well. Southwest only had six assists on the night compared to Northern who compiled 26 assists. SMSU was led in assists by Leidall who had three.

University of Mary Game Wrap-Up:
The Southwest Minnesota State University Mustangs shot 45.2 percent from the field connecting on seven three-pointers in the first half, but it wasn't enough as the University of Mary shot 58.9 percent on the night and earned an 85-77 win on Friday night in Northern Sun Conference play.
The Mustangs fall to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the NSIC with the loss as Mary gains their first NSIC win as they are now 1-2 in the conference and 2-5 overall. Mary's Nikki Landdeck put up 26 points as Corrie Villegas and Kristin Bear each added 16 and 14 points to help Mary achieve the win.
The Mustangs were led by Liz Grider who scored a career high of 17 points, having 12 of those points come in the first half. Grider also led the team in rebounding with five boards. Second on the team was Sara Leidall who had a total of 13 points while Kady Telschow also scored in double digits putting up 11 points.
Andrea Fennern had a great game as she hit a career high of three, 3-pointers for a total of nine points on the night and had a team high and career high of eight assists. Heidi Kimmes played some key minutes off the bench as she came in to score a career high of 10 points and in eleven minutes of playing time.

SMSU Womens Basketball Program Achieves 500 wins
The Mustangs currently have an all-time record of 501-406. They achieved the 500 win mark on Nov. 25 in the 76-52 win against Presentation (SD).

NSIC Individual Leaders
Megan Wittkop is tied for first the conference statistics for free throw shooting percentage as she as made 114-16 for a .875 percentage. Wittkop also ranks 8th in 3-point FGs made as she has 13 of 31, a .419 percentage. Abby Oakland ranks second in steals as she has 16 steals in seven games.

NSIC Team Leaders
Southwest as a team is ranked second in conference statistics for 3-point field goal percentage as they have a .365 percentage and the leader (University of Mary) has a .382 percentage.

SMSU Career Highs Set
Freshman Liz Grider scored a career high of 17 points against Mary on Dec. 9 ... Andrea Fennern hit a career high of three 3-pointers and had a career high of 8 assists versus Mary (Dec. 9, 2006) ... Heidi Kimmes also set a career high as she scored 10 points in the loss to Mary on Friday, Dec. 8.

Freshmen Players Make Impact
Three of SMSUs freshmen players are making impacts on the team in just four games. True freshman guard Liz Grider is averaging 23.3 minutes per game game while scoring an average of 11.1 ppg. Another true freshman guard Andrea Fennern is averaging 7.1 ppg and is second on the team in steals with 12 on the season. Fennern has a 3.3 rpg average and is averaging 17.7 minutes per game. Fennern hit a career high of three 3-pointers versus Mary on Friday, Dec. 8. True freshman guard Kady Telschow scored a career high of 15 points versus Presentation and scored her first career double double vs. Minnesota Crookston as she had 13 points and 10 boards ... Telschow has shot 34.8 % from the field so far this season ... she is averaging 6.3 ppg and 4.1 rbg.

Leidall Earns 2005-06 Post Season Honors
Sophomore forward Sara Leidall was named Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Newcomer of the Year last season and was the lone Mustang player to earn conference post season honors. In 14 conference games, she finished fourth on the team in field goal percentage (45.3), first in 3-point field goal percentage (50.0), first in rebounds per game (6.8) and first in scoring (14.8). She led the Mustangs with a total of 358 points on the season, a 12.8 points per game average. Leidall started in 21 of the 28 games and reached double figures in scoring in 19 of those games, passing the 20-point mark five times.

Mustangs Picked to Finish Eighth in 10-Team Northern Sun Conference
Southwest Minnesota State was picked to finish eighth (37 points) in the NSIC this season according to the preseason coaches poll released in October. SMSU finished last season with a 7-21 overall record and a 4-10 conference record. Northern State was picked to finish first as they had 4 first place votes and a total of 84 points as MSU Moorhead was picked a close second with 5 first place votes and a total of 82 points. Concordia-St. Paul is picked third (78) while Wayne State is fourth (65). Bemidji State holds the fifth spot (57), Winona is sixth (43) and Upper Iowa is seventh (41) while Mary and Minnesota Crookston round out the top ten. (32& 31). (For a complete listing of the poll is chart on side of Page 4.)

SMSU Signs Three During Early Period
Southwest Minnesota State head coach Mike Jewett announced the signing of Laura Kalbfell, Laura Kramer and Brittany Mayclin. They are the first three high school players to sign with SMSU during the early NCAA signing period which was announced on Nov. 8. Kalbfell is a 6-foot forward from Lakeville, Minn., Kramer is a 6-foot-2 post from Fulda, Minn., and Mayclin is a 5-foot-7 guard from Bemidji, Minn.

National Rankings USA Today/ ESPN DII Coaches Poll Dec. 5, 2006

1. Washburn University (Kan.)
2. Henderson State University (Ark.)
3. Emporia State University (Kan.)
4. Grand Valley State University (Mich.)
5. University of North Dakota
6. Glenville State College (W. Va.)
7. Southern Connecticut State University
8. California State University, Chico
9. West Texas A&M University
10. Florida Gulf Coast University
11. Delta State University (Miss.)
12. Northern Kentucky University
13. Wingate University (N.C.)
14. Western Washington University
15. Stonehill College (Mass.)
16. American International College (Mass.)
17. Seattle Pacific University (Wash.)
18. Northern State University (S.D.)
19. Fort Valley State University (Ga.)
20. Metropolitan State College of Denver (Colo.)
21. Clayton State University (Ga.)
22. University Of California-San Diego
23. Saint Cloud State University (Minn.)
24. Missouri Western State
25. College Of Saint Rose (N.Y.)