OPENING TIP
The Southwest Minnesota State University women's basketball team (4-18, 2-16 NSIC) concludes its four-game road swing this weekend in Northern Dakota with games versus the University of Mary and Minot State. SMSU will begin the weekend with U-Mary on Friday, Feb. 14, at 6 p.m., and will follow with a 4 p.m. tip-off versus Minot State on Saturday, Feb. 15. SMSU is in search of its first road win in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play.
OPPONENT AT A GLANCE
U-MARY -- The Marauders are 13-8 overall, 11-7 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and are coming off a weekend sweep of Minnesota Crookston (72-65) and Bemidji State (71-67). The Marauders are 8-2 in their last 10 games, including a season-high six-game winning streak that spanned from Jan. 10 to Jan. 25, before Minnesota State and Concordia-St. Paul tripped them up in back-to-back contests on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. U-Mary is 7-3 at home this season and hasn't lost at the McDowell Activity Center since losing to Wayne State College 75-67 on Jan. 4. U-Mary enters the weekend as the NSIC's fourth highest scoring team with an average of 73.8 points per game in NSIC contests. U-Mary is led by a prolific scoring duo -- Linda Murray and Brittney Dietz. Murray's 16.3 points per game ranks eighth in the NSIC, while Dietz's 15.8 points per game ranks 13th. Murray nearly averages a double-double as her 9.4 rebounds per game leads the team. Rick Neumann is in his second season as head coach after spending nine seasons as an assistant.
MINOT STATE -- Minot State enters the weekend tied for second in the north with an overall record of 15-7, 11-6 in the NSIC. MISU, which received votes in last week's NCAA poll, is just two and three in its last five contest and is coming off a road split with Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston. MISU defeated BSU 74-66, before falling 74-62 to Minnesota Crookston the following night. MISU returns home to the MSU Dome, where the Beavers are 11-2 on the season. The Beavers are led by NSIC leading scorer Carly Boag, who averages 20.2 points per game. Boag grabs an average of 9.9 rebounds per game, which ranks third in the NSIC. MISU's starters carry the scoring load as all five nearly average double-digits -- Boag (20.2), Christina Boag (12.6), Katie Hardy (12.1), Alisha Jones (11.4), and Morgan Klose (9.9). Sheila Green Gerding is in her 19th season at the helm of the Beaver program.
