THIS WEEK: Minot State finishes off the regular season portion its last season in the Dakota Athletic Conference as MSU plays host to Black Hills State and South Dakota Mines Friday (5:30 p.m.) and Saturday (4 p.m.)
RECORDS: MSU is 19-7 overall and 7-5 in DAC play, good for a tie for third in the conference. BHSU leads the DAC with a 10-2 conference record and is 20-5 overall. Mines is tied for fifth with a 6-6 mark and is 12-14 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 287 wins, 183 losses all at Minot State. Mark Nore is the head coach at Black Hills State and has pushed his stellar record with the Yellow Jackets to 174-93 over nine seasons. 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 is 511-416 overall and 446-375 with the Hardrockers.
THINK GREEN: This weekend's games have been designated a “Green Out” at the Dome. The designation is in conjunction with the MSU Athletic Department and Xcel Energy's Green Weekend that has been going on throughout the week on campus. Fans are both encouraged to wear green at the games Friday and Saturday night, but also to think “green” and recycle. There will be recycling canisters at the Dome to recycle plastics and the MSU gameday programs. The MSU residence halls have been in competition all week and prizes will be awarded during the games.
www.msubeavers.com) and clicking on the multimedia tab at the top of the page.
ON THE AIR: The games are broadcast locally on KCJB 910-AM with Scott Kittell calling the play-by-play. Live online broadcast of the weekend games is available via the American One broadcast network and live stats are provided by Minot State's Sports Information. Both can be accessed by logging on to (
RANKINGS: MSU is still on the outside looking in as the Beavers received 26 votes in the latest NAIA Division II Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll. MSU sits in 30th overall. Black Hills State continues to be the top ranked DAC school as they held steady at No. 9 in the country. Mines is unranked.
RECENT HISTORY: Minot State blasted its past four opponents at the Dome including a decisive win over Dickinson State in the Beavers last DAC contest on Wednesday. BHSU had little trouble with Dakota State and Mayville State, winning by nearly 30 in both contests. SDM also got two wins over MaSU and DaSU.
OVERALL SERIES: The Beavers are 19-18 all time with Black Hills State, but BHSU has a five-game winning streak over MSU heading into the weekend. MSU is 20-18 overall against South Dakota Mines after losing at Rapid City, S.D., earlier this year. The Hardrockers have a two-game winning streak on the line.
NOTING THE YELLOW JACKETS: Black Hills State has clinched at least a share of the DAC title heading into this weekend… The Yellow Jackets have won more games than any other DAC team since the 2004-05 season, going 68-32 in conference play. They are 149-67 overall. Minot State is second during that span at 59-41 and 133-72, while Jamestown College is third at 58-42… BHSU lost twice on the road two weeks ago, snapping a 12-game winning streak, the longest such streak in the DAC this season… Of the Yellow Jackets five losses, three were to teams ranked or receiving votes in the NAIA coaches' poll. The other two were to NCAA Division II opponents. BHSU's leading scorer Keely Krolikowski is also the conference's leading scorer at 17.08 per game.
NOTING THE HARDROCKERS: South Dakota Mines is on a three-game winnings streak entering the weekend as the Hardrockers started their streak with a win on the road at then-nationally ranked Jamestown College… It has been an up and down season for SDM as it has two three-game winnings streaks to its credit, but also has a five-game losing streak, a three-game skid and two two-game losing streaks… Ariel Granillo is the leading scorer for the Hardrockers at 14.12 ppg., and the team's leader in assists, dishing out 3.0 per game… Justine Blade leads her team in blocks with 2.0 per game, helping the Hardrockers to a No. 12 ranking in blocks per game in NAIA Division II.
RECORD CHASING WEEKEND: Minot State is closing in on a school record for wins for the second straight season. MSU entered the final weekend of play last season with 20 wins, tied the school record of 21 wins at South Dakota Mines, but lost its final two games. MSU has 19 wins this year with a guaranteed three games remaining. If the Beavers are to reach the 20-win plateau, it would mark the fourth time in five years the Beavers have won at least 20 games.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: Minot State freshmen twin sisters Carly and Christina Boag (F, Tamworth, Australia) have eight of the Beavers nine double-doubles this season. Carly Boag leads the way with six on the season, while Christina Boag has two – over her past two games. Carly Boag leads the team in scoring (11.21) and rebounds (6.75), while Christina paces the Beavers field goal percentage (58.1 percent) and is third in rebounds (4,75) and fourth in scoring (8.88).
THE FOLVY WATCH RETURNS: Minot State's Caroline Folven's (Sr., C, Byron, Ill.) became the 10th MSU women's basketball player in school history to score at least 1,000 career points as she hit the plateau early in the Beavers win over Mayville State and now Folven is poised to reach 500 rebounds in her stellar four-year career. Folven comes into the weekend needing just four rebounds to reach the milestone.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE DOME: Minot State has put up a perfect 14-0 record at the MSU Dome this season and is 5-0 in conference play. In those five home conference games, MSU is outscoring its opponent 375-284, averaging 18.2 points per game more than its opponents. MSU's home regular season conference winning streak is at seven games, dating back to a loss last season in January at the hands of Black Hills State. MSU's last lost at home overall is setback to Mines in the DAC playoffs last season.
HIGH WATER MARKS: Minot State has a chance of topping two team records as they are averaging 2.5 points per game more than the record of 74.4 set by the 1997-98 team (the first to reach the team-record 21-win mark). MSU is also ahead of 1986-87 team's standard for rebound average as the current team is pulling down 42 per game compared to 39.7. Finally, if the Beavers continue to shoot free throws as well as they have so far, MSU will top the 2006-07 squad's mark of 72.3 percent from the line. MSU is hitting 74.9 percent so far this season.
– GO BEAVERS –
