BURNSVILLE, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State University senior women's basketball player
Bri Stoltzman has been named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Player of the Week on Monday for the seventh time this season and eighth time in her career.
Stoltzman's play helped the Mustangs remain in first place in the NSIC standings with two victories and extended the team's winning streak to 16 in a row.
Stoltzman, a 5-foot-8, guard from Mankato, Minn., averaged 28 points, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.5 steals, while shooting 53 percent (21 of 40) to help the Mustangs earn victories over Wayne State and Minnesota Crookston.
Last Tuesday, in a 78-65 road victory over Wayne State, Stoltzman made 11 of 21 field goal attempts with two 3-pointers and was a perfect 9 of 9 from the free throw line to score a game-high 33 points. She also added six rebounds, three assists and had just one turnover.
In SMSU's 88-74 come-from-behind home victory over Minnesota Crookston on Saturday, Stoltzman scored a team-high 23 points, including 20 in the second half. She made 10 of 19 field goals while dishing out a game-high eight assists with six rebounds and two steals.
SMSU trailed 60-56 late in the third quarter before using an 18-3 run to rally for the victory. Stoltzman scored 11 of the 18 points during the run including seven in a row to open the fourth quarter.
For the season, Stoltzman has scored 522 points, averaging 20.9 points per game, while shooting 55 percent (200 of 364) from the field, 42 percent (27 of 64) from 3-point range and 82 percent (95 of 116) from the free throw line. She leads the team in both assists (106) and steals (52), while ranking third in rebounding (6.4).
In the latest Division II statistics (Feb. 16), Stoltzman ranks sixth in field goals made, ninth in points per game and 22
nd in field goal pct.
She is the fifth player in team history to make 200 field goals in a season and the sixth to score more than 500 points in a season. A season ago, she set the school single season record with 579 points.
A 2021 graduate of Mankato West High School, Stoltzman has played in 112 career games with 86 starts and ranks fourth in program history with 1,583 points, third in field goal pct. (52.1), fourth in field goals made (584) and sixth in steals (192).
SMSU, tied atop the NSIC standings with an 18-2 record, is 24-2 overall and ranked No. 17 in last week's WBCA Top 25 poll. SMSU closes the regular season with two road games versus UMary on Friday night and Northern State on Saturday. The Mustangs will be looking for their fifth conference title in team history and first since 2002.