THE GAME
The Southwest Minnesota State University ­women's basketball team (0-4, 0-0) opens its home and Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference season this Saturday taking on the University of Sioux Falls (3-0, 0-0 NSIC) with tip-off slated for 6 p.m. at the R/A Facility in Marshall.

    BROADCAST INFO
•Saturday's game will broadcast on 105.1 FM KARL with Ryan Rohlik handling the play-by-play for SMSU basketball for the fourth straight season.
•The game can also be viewed online at SMSUmustangs.com.
    
    SERIES HISTORY
•Southwest Minnesota State and Sioux Falls meet for the 28th time on Saturday with SMSU leading 16-11.
•The teams first met during the 1969-70 season.
•USF leads 7-6 in games played in Marshall.
•USF has won the six game and eight of the last nine overall.
•USF leads 7-1 since joining the NSIC prior to the 2012-13 season.
•USF won both games last season, 74-42 in Sioux Falls and 88-72 in Marshall.
•Complete game-by-game listing of the series is located on page 12.

    GAME DAY STORYLINES
•SMSU is still seeking its first win of the season. The Mustangs lost their first five games to begin the 2015-16 season and thier first 11 games of 2014-15. SMSU holds a 5-22 record in the month of November in the last five seasons.
•SMSU held William Jewell to just 19 points in the first half last Friday night. It was the firs time SMSU held an opponent to less than 20 points in a half since Nov. 11, 2013, versus Crown College.

    SMSU HEAD COACH TOM WEBB
•Tom Webb is in his first season as the head coach.
•Webb is the eighth head coach in the program's history
• Prior to SMSU, coach Webb spent eight seasons (2008-16) as the head coach at Cameron University (Okla.) compiling a record of 91-123.
• Webb was recognized as the Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year in 2014-15

    ABOUT SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE
•SMSU is 0-4 on the season following two losses last weekend in Sioux Falls.
•SMSU loss 66-52 to William Jewell, before dropping an 85-67 decision to South Dakota Mines.
•Lauren Hedlund leads the team in scoring at 13.3 ppg and also leads the team with 8.0 rpg.
•Taylor Holicky is averaging 10.8 ppg and 7.0 rpg.  
•Taylor Silva has dished out a team-high 15 assists.
•Abby Connell and Jamie Spicer have both connected on a team-leading eight 3-pointers.
•SMSU is averaging 56 points per game, while opponents are averaging 78.
•SMSU is shooting 37 percent from the field, 33 percent from 3-point range and 74 percent from the free throw line.  

    ABOUT SIOUX FALLS
•USF is 3-0 on the season with home victories over Presentation College, South Dakota Mines and William Jewell.
•USF will host Dakota State on Tuesday night before playing SMSU.
•Kaely Hummel is scoring a team-high 17 ppg with 12 3-pointers.
•Sam Knecht is averaging 16 ppg with sixth 3-pointers.
•USF is shooting 41 percent from the field, 34 percent from 3-point range and 55 percent from the free throw line.
•USF is scoring 71 points per game, while opponents are averaging 55 per game.
•Head coach Travis Traphagen is in his ninth season at USF with a record of 156-82.
•USF last season finished 27-6, won the NSIC tournament and advanced to the NCAA tournament.

    LAURIE BOHLER NOTES
•Has played in four games.
•Has scored nine points with one 3-pointer.
•Has appeared in 37 career games

    EMILY BUYSSE NOTES
•First season with the Mustangs.
•Younger sister of teammate Sarah Buysse.

    


    SARAH BUYSSE NOTES
•Started all 29 games as a true freshman in 2015-16
•Was fourth on the team in scoring last season with 6.9 points per game.
•Older sister of teammate Emily Buysse.

    ABBY CONNELL NOTES
•Has started all four games.
•Averaging 6.5 ppg and 2.3 rpg.
•Tied for team lead with eight 3-pointers.
•Currently ranks 20th in SMSU history in 3-point attempts (161).

    LAUREN HEDLUND NOTES
•Has started all four games.
•Leads the team averaging 13.3 ppg.
•Also team leader averaging 8.0 rpg.
•Scored season-high 21 points vs. South Dakota Mines.
•Has racked up eight or more rebounds in three games.
•Ninth all-time in rebounds per game (6.4).

    TAYLOR HOLICKY NOTES
•Has started all four games.
•Averaging 10.8 ppg and 7.0 rebounds per game.
•Recorded double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds vs. William Jewell.
•Scored a career-high 14 points vs. Missouri Western State.

    CALEIGH RODNING NOTES
•First season on the team.
•Averaging 8.8 ppg and 4.3 rpg.
•Scored season-high 13 points vs. Missouri Western State.

    TAYLOR SILVA NOTES
•Has started four games.
•Leads team with 15 assists.
•Dished out season-high six assists vs. South Dakota Mines.

    KENDRA SNAZA NOTES
•Has appeared in four games.
•Scored six points with two 3-pointers vs. Fort Hays State.

    JAMIE SPICER NOTES
•First season on the team.
•Has played in all four games.
•Averaging 6.0 ppg.
•Tied for the team lead with eight 3-pointers.
•Scored nine points vs. Missouri Western State and South Dakota Mines.

    BRIANNA VONWAHLDE NOTES
•Has played in all four games.
•Scored field goals vs. Fort Hays State and South Dakota Mines.

    ANGIE WENNING
•Has played in all four games with one rebound.

    OFF THE BENCH
•The SMSU bench is averaging 10.8 ppg this season, while its opponents are averaging 27.8 ppg. SMSU averaged 14 bench points per game in 2015-16.

    SHARING THE BALL
•The Mustangs will look to improve on their early assist numbers as they are averaging 10.3 assists per game. SMSU tallied double-digit assists in 20 games last season and averaged 11.8 apg.

    WORKING OVERTIME
•SMSU is 10-24 all-time in overtime games and has not won an overtime game in 11 seasons as the Mustangs are 0-9 since the 2004-05 season. •SMSU is 2-5 in seven double-overtime games. •The last overtime win for SMSU was on Feb. 11, 2005, versus Minnesota Crookston.
    
HOME AND AWAY
•SMSU finished 3-12 at home last season and is a combined 14-51 at home over the last five seasons.
•The Mustangs, 0-4 in road/neutral site games this season after finishing 2-12 in road/neutral site games last season.
•The following is a statistical comparison of the Mustang team averages for home and away/neutral games in 2016-17:
        W-L    FG%    3-FG%    FT%    REB    PTS    TO    
Home    0-0    -    -    -    -    -    -    
Away    0-4    .365    .333    .738    34.0    56.0    22.3     


 
    HOME SWEET HOME
•The 2016-17 season marks the 21st year the R/A Facility has been the home arena for SMSU women's basketball.
•SMSU has compiled a record of 134-128 (.511) in 262 games in the R/A Facility.
•SMSU is 314-225 (.583) in all home games in the program's history.

SMSU in the R/A Facility
    Year    Overall    NSIC    Non Conf.
    1996-97    6-5    2-3    4-2
    1997-98    5-6    3-3    2-3
    1998-99    11-2    6-0    5-2    
    1999-00    11-3    7-2    4-1    
    2000-01    12-0    9-0    3-0
    2001-02    11-2    8-1    3-1
    2002-03    11-3    7-2    4-1
    2003-04    4-8    2-7    2-1    
    2004-05    10-4    5-2    5-2
    2005-06    5-9    3-4    2-5
    2006-07    5-8    3-6    2-2
    2007-08    5-9    2-7    3-2
    2008-09    9-6    4-6    5-0
    2009-10    10-5    6-4    4-1
    2010-11    6-7    5-6    1-1
    2011-12    3-9    3-8    0-1    
    2012-13    2-10    1-10    1-0
    2013-14    3-9    2-9    1-0
    2014-15    3-11    3-8    0-3
    2015-16    3-12    2-9    1-3
    2016-17    0-0    0-0    0-0
   Totals:    134-128    82-97    52-31

    2016-17 NSIC PRESEASON POLL
•SMSU was picked to finish 15th overall and eighth in the South Division in the annual 16-team NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll released in October.
•Winona State was chosen as the overall preseason favorite earning 201 points including seven first place votes and were also picked to win the South Division

    MUSTANG HISTORY
•SMSU is in its 49th year of women's basketball in 2015-16.
•SMSU has played in 1,182 games all-time with a 574-608 (.485) all-time record overall.
•SMSU is 222-334 (.400) all-time in conference games.