THIS WEEK: Minot State travels to the Black Hills of South Dakota for one of the toughest road trips in NAIA Division II women's basketball, taking on South Dakota Mines Friday (5:30 p.m. MT) and nationally ranked Black Hills State Saturday (4 p.m. MT).

RECORDS: MSU is 12-4 overall and 3-2 in Dakota Athletic Conference play. Mines comes into the weekend at 2-3 in the DAC and 8-11 overall, while BHSU is a perfect 5-0 in DAC play and 15-3 overall.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's Sheila Green Gerding is in her 16th season at the helm of the Beavers. She has a record of 280 wins, 180 losses all at Minot State. The head coach of South Dakota Mines is Barb Felderman, the longest tenured coach in the conference as she is in her 30th season. Felderman, who is 507-413 overall and 442-372 with the Hardrockers, will not be on the bench Friday, however, as she has taken a leave of absence. Assistant coach Lori Coble has been named interim head coach. Mark Nore is the head coach at Black Hills State and boasts a 169-91 record in nine seasons.

ON THE AIR: The games are broadcast locally on KCJB 910-AM with Scott Kittell calling the play-by-play. Live stats are provided Friday night by DakStats3000 and can be accessed by the internet at the following address: (http://www.dakstats.com/WebSync/Pages/Schools.aspx?association=10&school=1323).

RANKINGS: MSU is ranked No. 17 in the latest NAIA Division II Women's Basketball Coaches Top 25 Poll, falling one place from a week ago. Black Hills hit its highest mark since Oct. 25, moving up two spots for a tie for fifth. Mines was not ranked this week.

RECENT HISTORY: MSU lost a tough 53-45 contest at Dickinson State in conference play last Wednesday and battled NCAA Division I University of North Dakota before losing 76-60 last Thursday in exhibition play. Mines split a pair of DAC games on the road last week, falling 66-59 at Dakota State before roughing up Mayville State 102-76. BHSU was steady in two DAC games last week, topping Mayville 74-63 and Dakota 72-41 for its eighth and ninth consecutive wins.

OVERALL SERIES: The Beavers are 20-17 overall against South Dakota Mines, having won both regular season games last year. The Hardrockers, however, knocked off MSU in the playoffs at Minot. The Beavers are 19-17 against BHSU, but the Yellow Jackets have a four-game winning streak against MSU and have not lost to the Beavers at home since February 2006.

NOTING THE HARDROCKERS: South Dakota Mines is selling T-Shirts at this weekend's games to raise money to support the recovery of sophomore Mandy Willmore, who suffered a spinal injury called Surfers Myelopathy during a trip to Hawaii. Willmore is currently at Craig's Hospital in Denver, Colo., an institution dedicated to spinal cord injuries and rehabilitation. The shirts, which are beings sold by Malone Engineering, will sell for $10 with all proceeds going to Willmore… The Hardrockers set a new team record for 3-point goals in a game during a 102-76 blowout win over Mayville State. SDM hit 16 3s in the game… The 102 points scored for Mines is the team's high this year. Mines has done a decent job scoring as they have hit 80 points in six games this season, but have given up at least 75 in 11 games… Guard Ariel Granillo leads the team in both scoring (13.6) and assists (64) and is ranked 50th in the NAIA in total assists.

NOTING THE YELLOW JACKETS: Black Hills State has won nine games in a row, including five straight in conference play. During that stretch, BHSU has allowed 70 points just four times and has scored at least 80 points six times… Katelynn Lamb, who leads the team in steals with 33 and is ranked No. 15 in the country in free throw shooting percentage at 84.9, was named last week's DAC player of the week… Minot State and Black Hills State are the only two teams who have won a player of the week award in the DAC this year as Lamb was named the conference winner for the week of Dec. 13-19… Leading scorer Keely Krolikowski's 17.3 scoring average ranks her 25th in NAIA Division II.

FOLVY WATCH CONTINUES: Minot State's Caroline Folven's (Sr., C, Byron, Ill.) could become the school's 10th player to reach 1,000 career points this weekend as the senior sits at 982 points so far in her career. Folven comes into the game averaging a team-leading 13.3 points per game. She is also nearing 500 rebounds in her career as she sits at 441.

STRANGLEHOLD ON AWARDS: Minot State and Black Hills State are the only two teams to win DAC players of the week honors this season. Along with Katelynn Lamb's two awards for BHSU, MSU has had Carly Boag (Fr., F, Tamworth, Australia), Sacarra Molina (So., G, Hinsdale, Mont.) and Caroline Folven all honored by the conference. Boag and Lamb have won two each and the past four awards between them.

COUNT BY THREES: Senior Kallie Erickson (G, Fordville, N.D.) has 38 field goals on the season, but only six of them are 2-pointers. Erickson, ranked 12th in NAIA Division II in 3-point field goal percentage at 44 percent, has 32 3s this season to go along with 44 last year. Only four times has she failed to hit a 3 in a game and just once has Erickson not attempted a 3. She knocked down four 3s in one game, going 4 for 5 against Alaska-Fairbanks (Dec. 11).

GOOD ON BOTH SIDES: Minot State continues to be one of the top scoring margin teams in the country, holding at No. 16 in scoring margin in NAIA Division II at plus 13.81. The Beavers have accomplished that do to solid shooting and solid defense. The Beavers are ranked No. 9 in field goal percentage at 45.2 percent, No. 12 in 3-point field goal percentage and No. 16 in free throw percentage at 74 percent on offense. On the defensive side of the ball, MSU is No.13 in field goal percentage allowed at 35.1 percent.