MARSHALL, Minn.- Southwest Minnesota State will begin a stretch of four consecutive road games with a weekend trip to play at Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State this Friday and Saturday night respectively. SMSU will take on Concordia-St. Paul on Friday night at 6 p.m., from the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minn., followed by a Saturday matchup with Minnesota State at 4 p.m., from the Taylor Center.

SMSU Quick Hits (See SMSU Game Notes for full info)
- Senior forward, Lauren Hedlund, became the 19th member of the SMSU women's basketball 1,000 career points club earlier this season against UIU
- Head Coach, Tom Webb, enters his second season at the helm to the SMSU women's basketball program after spending eight seasons at Cameron University in Lawton, Okla.
- SMSU gets set to travel to Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State this weekend as it begins a four-game road stretch
- Over the past four games, SMSU has a +3.3 turnover margin, +4.5 scoring margin, and a +3.5 rebounding margin over its opponents
- Caleigh Rodning currently ranks in the NSIC's top-10 in rebounding (off and def), free throw percentage, and ranks 13th in scoring
- Taylor Holicky's six blocked shots at USF made her the first SMSU player since 2007 to have at least five blocked shots in a single game
 

Concordia-St. Paul: Game Preview
    CSP Team Notes
- 2016-17 Record: 19-10, 15-7 NSIC
- 2017-18 Record: 4-13, 1-10 NSIC
- The Golden Bears travelled to North Dakota over the weekend to face U-Mary and Minot State, falling to U-Mary by eight and Minot by 17
- The Bears shot 44.8% from the field against Mary, but the Marauders capitalized on ten more points from the free-throw line (18-8) to secure the win
- CSP ran into a hot shooting Minot State squad, who connected on 49.2 percent of their field goals, including 58.8 percent of their three point attempts
- Concordia will close out January with five straight home games
- Junior, Anna Schmitt, scored a game-high 28 points against U-Mary, scoring 14 of her team's 16 points in the fourth quarter to help spark a comeback effort
- Freshman, Ayla Lemke, scored a career-high 11 points against Minot State, draining three out of her four three-point attempts
    Series History
- CSP leads the all-time series, 36-16
- The Golden Bears have won 11 straight over SMSU with the Mustangs' last win coming in a 60-55 victory in Marshall back in December of 2011
- CSP has won 26 of 27 games over SMSU and 32 of 34 dating back to 2006
- The Mustangs' last win in St. Paul, Minn., was a 76-57 win back in the 2001-02 season
- SMSU won 12 straight games over Concordia-St. Paul from the 1986-87 season through the 2001-02 season
- The Mustangs dropped both games against CSP by less than four points last season
    Game Coverage
- SMSU vs CSP will be broadcast on 105.1 FM KARL with Ryan Rohlik and Anthony Rohlik handling the play-by-play for SMSU basketball
- The game can also be viewed online at SMSUmustangs.com

Minnesota State: Game Preview
    MSU Team Notes
- 2016-17 Record: 16-11, 12-10 NSIC
- 2017-18 Record: 5-12, 3-8 NSIC
- MSU went 1-1 last week on the road last weekend
- MSU snapped a four-game losing streak at Minot State, 72-54
- With the win over Minot State, Head Coach, Emilee Thiesse, earned her 100th career win
- Sophomore, Taylor Klug, averaged a team-high 21.5 points last weekend with a career-high 27 points to go along with five rebounds, three steals, and one assist
- Senior, Claire Jordan, averaged 13.5 points for the Mavericks
- Senior, Claire Ziegler, averaged 12.0 points with a team-best 7.0 rebounds, five steals, and three blocks to round out the top performers
    Series History
- Minnesota State leads the all-time series, 17-39
- The Mavericks have won 21 straight games over SMSU since the Mustangs last win which was a 74-61 nonconference victory in Marshall back in 2004
- SMSU has not won a game in Mankato, Minn., since the 2003-04 season
- SMSU is 4-20 against the Mavericks in conference games and 6-23 all-time on the road in Mankato
    Game Coverage
- SMSU vs MSU will be broadcast on 105.1 FM KARL with Ryan Rohlik and Anthony Rohlik handling the play-by-play for SMSU basketball 
- The game can also be viewed online at SMSUmustangs.com

Recipe for Success
In its four wins this season, SMSU has:
- Committed 13 or fewer turnovers
- Held opponents to 35 percent shooting or below
- Combined for at least 11 assists as a team and attempted at least 61 field goals
- Tied or outrebounded its opponent, pulling in at least 37 total rebounds as a team
- Been led in scoring by Caleigh Rodning who has 18.8 ppg and has shot 54 percent (21 of 39) from the field

Midseason Momentum
The Mustangs have gone 2-2 over the two weekends of conference play. Over its current four-game stretch, SMSU...:
- Has significantly dropped its turnover numbers with just 10.8 turnovers per game and a +3.3 turnover margin over its opponents
- Has a 1.1 assist/turnover ratio as a team and averaged 11.5 assists per game
- Has racked up 7.5 steals per game as a team
- Holds +4.5 scoring margin over opponents with a positive scoring margin in the first, third and fourth quarters of games
- Has a .382 field goal percentage as a team and a .794 free throw shooting percentage as a team
- Has averaged 42.0 rebounds per game with a +3.5 rebounding average over its opponents

NSIC Stats (Conference Games Only)
- Below are highlights of NSIC rankings through the first four weeks of the regular season (as of 1/17):
Player/ Team                            Category                            NSIC Rk.
SMSU                                        Scoring- 65.5 ppg                     6
SMSU                                        FT Pct- .770                             5
SMSU                                        Reb.- 39.1 rpg                          3
SMSU                                        Reb. Margin- +1.0                    6
SMSU                                        Off Reb.- 13.0 rpg                    2
SMSU                                        Off. Reb. Pct.- .349                  4
Caleigh Rodning                        Scoring- 12.9 ppg                   13
Caleigh Rodning                        Reb.- 8.2 rpg                           6
Caleigh Rodning                        Off. Reb.- 2.7 rpg                    5
Caleigh Rodning                        Def. Reb- 5.5 rpg                   T-6
Caleigh Rodning                        FT Pct.- .850                           9
Sadie Stelter                              Assists- 3.1 assists/gm          12

*for full rankings see SMSU Game Notes

4th Quarter Queens
- The Mustangs have outscored opponents 255-233 (+22) in the fourth quarter of games this season, its only positive scoring differential of any quarter
- SMSU went 7 of 13 (54 percent) from the field in the fourth quarter against Augustana on Dec. 30 and went 8 of 9 (89 percent) in the fourth quarter at St. Cloud State on Dec. 9
- SMSU held both UMC (36 percent) and BSU (25 percent) to its lowest shooting percentage of each respective game during the fourth quarter last weekend

SMSU Individual Player Notes
#1 Reinhart Notes: Led the Mustangs in scoring with 18 points after knocking down 4 of 4 three point attempts against St. Cloud State (12/9) ... has started all 15 games for SMSU so far this season … signed with SMSU during early signing period on Nov. 10, 2016
#3 Stelter Notes: Went 5 of 9 on three point attempts for career high 15 points vs Augustana (12/30) ... has led the Mustangs in assists in eight games this season ... signed with SMSU during early signing period on Nov. 10, 2016
#5 Rodning Notes: Scored career high 26 points against BSU (1/13) ... posted her fourth double-double this season and 14th of her career vs UMC (1/12) … named to NSIC All-Freshman team in 2016-17 ... posted eight straight double-doubles last season
#10 Bonestroo Notes: Has appeared in 12 games for SMSU this year ... had team high three assists in career debut vs MWSU (11/10) … signed with SMSU during early signing period on Nov. 10, 2016
#11 Bohler Notes: Has played in 61 career games ... signed with SMSU during the late signing period on April 16, 2014
#12 Wenning Notes: Has appeared in 14 career games ... signed with SMSU during early signing period on Nov. 13, 2013
#14 E. Buysse Notes: Connected on 3 of 4 three point attempts against Waldorf (11/18) ... appeared in 19 games as a true freshman ... scored career high 11 points at MSU last season (2/17)
#20 Teske Notes: Tied her season high with seven points at Winona State (1/5) ... went 3 of 5 shooting overall against UIU (12/1) ... signed with SMSU during early signing period on Nov. 10, 2016
#21 S. Buysse Notes: Has made eight starts on the season in the Mustangs' backcourt ... had a career high 22 points against UMD (12/8), her first 20 point game of her career ... Led SMSU in scoring with 18 points against Waldorf (11/18) … has appeared in 54 career games with 45 starts ... averaged 7.3 ppg and 2.7 rpg in 2016-17
#23 Hutton Notes: Made her SMSU debut vs MWSU (11/10) … had five rebounds vs FHSU … signed with SMSU during early signing period on Nov. 10, 2016
#24 Baxter Notes: Has led SMSU in scoring three times this year with a career high 21 points at Upper Iowa (1/6) ... made her SMSU debut vs MWSU (11/10) … signed with SMSU during early signing period on Nov. 10, 2016
#33 Hedlund Notes: Posted her 12th career double-double with 12 points and 12 boards agaisnt UMC (1/12) ... had seven points to become 19th member of SMSU 1,000 career points club against Upper Iowa (12/1) ... ranks 8th in school history in career rebounds (654) ... ranked fourth in the NSIC in rebounding last season with 8.6 rpg (conf. only)
#35 Akoi Notes: Has team leading 27 blocks on the season ... scored career high 10 points against WSC (12/31) … had four blocks in her first career game vs MWSU (11/10) … Signed with SMSU during early signing period on Nov. 10, 2016
#45 Holicky Notes: Became first player since 2007 to have five or more blocks with six blocks at USF (11/25) ... Started all 27 games in 2016-17 … Eighth in SMSU history with 4.4 defensive rebounds per game for her career