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THIS WEEK: Minot State heads out on US Highway 2 for a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference games, playing Friday at Minnesota Crookston (6 p.m.) and Saturday at Bemidji State (8 p.m.)

RECORDS: MISU is 4-1 overall, 2-1 in the NSIC. UMC comes into the weekend with a 3-4 overall mark and is 0-3 in NSIC play. Bemidji is 5-2 overall and 1-2 in the NSIC.

COACHES CORNER: Sheila Green Gerding begins her 18th season as the Minot State head coach and sports a lofty 305-199 record. Crookston's head coach is Mike Roysland, who is 53-95 in his seventh season with the Golden Eagles. Mike Curfman is in his eighth year at Bemidji State and sports an 81-124 record.

FOLLOW THE BEAVERS: The game is broadcast locally on KCJB 910-AM with Scott Kittell calling the play-by-play. Live audio can be accessed online at kcjb.com. MSU provides live video and live stats as well as links to the live audio at msubeavers.com. Minot State Athletics also is active on Facebook, Twitter and You Tube with all feeds accessible at msubeavers.com/stayconnected.

RANKINGS: Minot State, Minnesota Crookston and Bemijdi State were not ranked in the latest USA Today Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State split a pair of NSIC home games – their first home conference games since joining the NSIC this year – defeating Minnesota State-Moorhead 73-57 Friday and falling 72-57 to Northern State. Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State were both swept in conference play by Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State. UMC fell 75-53 at UMD and 64-54 at SCSU. The BSU Beavers were swept on the road, falling 81-53 at SCSU and 65-50 at Duluth.

OVERALL SERIES: Minot State is meeting both teams for the first time as a member of NCAA Division II and the NSIC. Minot State holds a slim 4-2 lead all-time over Bemidji State.

NOTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES: Minnesota Crookston is the only team in the conference yet to have played a home game. UMC has been the visitor five times and has two neutral site games as well… The Golden Eagles have struggled from the free-throw line, hitting just 69 of 120 attempts (57.5 percent), last in the NSIC… Brittani Wiese is getting close to hitting 1,000 points for her career, needing just 14 to eclipse the milestone. She is just 26 points away from moving into sixth place all-time in UMC history and has a very good chance of finishing in fourth overall as she needs 104 to pass Steph Mayclin, who has 1,089… Laurie Tyson's 8.1 rebounding average is good for eighth place overall in the NSIC. She is fifth in offensive rebounds and eighth in defensive boards in the conference.

NOTING THE BEAVERS: Bemidji State won five straight games, including four at home, before falling twice on the road last weekend. BSU is 4-0 at home and 1-2 on the road… Four different players have led the Beavers in scoring this season as Lanae Rash, Morgan Lee, Ellie Essling and Kate Warmack have all had high-point nights. Rash has been the top scorer three times… Shannon Tompson has 30 assists through seven games and just 10 turnovers. She and Jessie Althoff (13 assists, 10 turnovers) are the only BSU regulars who have more assists than turnovers… Bemidji State had hit just 27.6 percent on 3-pointers, making 34 on 123 attempts. BSU takes a 3-pointer once in every four shots… BSU is fifth overall in scoring in the conference at 72.1 ppg., but is second to last in scoring defense at 71.1. Their plus-1 scoring is one of 14 NSIC schools on the plus side.

MISU STRETCHES ITS LIVE COVERAGE: Minot State University, in conjunction with the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, has partnered with Stretch Internet to provide live video feeds for all home contest, all away NSIC games and select nonconference away games. Stretch Internet is an industry leader is live streaming video and offers live chat and On Demand replay video for select games. Log on to msubeavers.com/stayconnected for more information and to view live video.

HIGHLINE SERIES: Minot State will play two of the three Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference teams on US Highway 2 this weekend as MISU, Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji join Minnesota Duluth along what is called the “Highline.” The MISU Beavers are no stranger to the highway as Minot State has played Montana State-Northern in Havre, Mont., for many years. After the Duluth game, Minot State will have played all of the NCAA Division II teams on US Highway 2. The only NCAA Division I team on the route is Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., while NCAA Division II teams Northern Michigan (Marquette, Mich.) and Michigan Tech (Houghton, Mich.) are just off the highway.

FINDING A WAY: Even with battling foul trouble this season and opposing defenses keying on her, Minot State junior forward Carly Boag (Tamworth, Australia) has found a way to reach double figures nearly every night out. She has scored at least 10 points in every game this season and did so in 22 of 26 games in 2011-12. She has scored in double figures in 14 straight games, dating back to Jan. 17, 2012. Boag is the Beavers leading scorer this season, averaging 19.0 points per game.

ROAD WARRIORS: With 2011-12's independent schedule and a grueling exhibition schedule in 2012-13, the MISU women's basketball team has been on the road for 11 of its past 15 total games, including six to end last season four of eight this year. The Beavers will enjoy 11 home games over the next three months.

 'SPEEDY' QUICKLY BECOMING A FORCE: Alisha “Speedy” Jones (Jr., G, Kileen, Texas) had her best game as a member of the Beavers Friday night as she scored  a season-high 12 points – all in the first half – and added four rebounds, an assist and a steal. She was 6 for 12 from the floor in the Beavers win over MSU-Moorhead. On the season, Jones is averaging 5.4 points per game, while hitting 2 of 4 3-pointers.

STEADY SAFRANSKI: Minot State senior guard Lauren Safranski (Burnsville, Minn.) has been steady on both end of the court for the past three seasons. Safranski has three starts in 2012-13 to give her 49 career starts, all since her sophomore season. She has earned major minutes for the Beavers, despite not averaging more than 8.4 points in any one season and has scored 413 points so far in her career. But Safranski has also has 184 rebounds, 110 assists and 51 steals in her three-plus seasons. She is the team-leader this season with 3.25 assists per game.

SECOND HALF SURGE: Minot State has outscored its opponents by 23 points in the second half through five games this year and 18 points overall. The Beavers have hit for 180 points in the second half, 14 more than in the first half and have average 36 points in the second, while allowing just 31.4.