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THIS WEEK: Minot State University women's basketball will host two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference South Division opponents in their home season finale weekend. The Beavers will host University of Sioux Falls on Friday Feb. 14 at 6 p.m. and then play Southwest Minnesota State University of Saturday Feb. 15 at 4 p.m.

RECORDS: The Beavers are 15-7 overall and 11-7 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play this season. University of Sioux Falls is currently 12-10 overall and 8-10 in the NSIC while Southwest Minnesota State University sits with a 4-18 overall mark and a 2-16 record in the Northern Sun.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State's is coached by Sheila Green Gerding. In her 19th season at the helm of the Beaver women's basketball program, Green Gerding has amassed an impressive 329-219 overall record. She has qualified Minot State for six NAIA National Tournaments over her career while also coaching 12 All-Americans both at the NAIA and NCAA Division II levels.   The Cougars are coached by Travis Traphagen who is in his sixth season as head coach of the USF women's basketball program. Traphagen has totaled a record of 110-62 over his tenure, leading his teams to back-to-back 20-win seasons in 2010-11 and 2011-12. He has many years of NSIC experience as he also coached at Augustana College and Wayne State College over his career. The Mustangs are coached by Allison Krueger who is in her fourth season with SMSU. As a head coach with SMSU, Krueger has an overall record of 21-82. Prior to coming to the Mustangs, she spent two seasons at the top assistant at NCAA Division I University of South Dakota where she helped her team to a 33-27 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: For the fifth consecutive week, Minot State received votes in the USA TODAY NCAA Division II Coaches' Poll. On the Feb.11 edition of the poll, MISU received three points in the poll. University of Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State did not receive any votes.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State University split games last Friday and Saturday night on the road in NSIC North Division play. The Beavers defeated Bemidji State University 74-66 Friday night before hitting a speed-bump against University of Minnesota Crookston as they fell to UMC 74-62. MISU couldn't complete the second half comeback despite holding the Golden Eagles to just 28.6 percent shooting in the second half. The Cougars fell in both of their road games last weekend as they fell 78-61 to Concordia University, St. Paul on Friday night and then USF lost 79-52 to Minnesota State University at the Taylor Center in Mankato, Minn. SMSU also suffered two losses on the weekend, both coming by 20 points or more. Friday the Mustangs fell to Minnesota State 85-63 before falling to Concordia, St. Paul 64-42 in St. Paul, Minn.

OVERALL SERIES: University of Sioux Falls holds a 4-1 all-time advantage over Minot State as the Cougars defeated MISU four straight times during the 2011-12 season. The Beavers, however, defeated USF 75-70 a season ago. Minot State and SMSU have met just two times in program history with each team winning a game. Last year the Beavers took down the Mustangs 64-60 at the R/A Facility in Marshall, Minn.

NOTING THE COUGARS: Although University of Sioux Falls dropped both of their games last weekend, they come into Friday's matchup with the Beavers as winners of six of their last nine games. USF has shown they like to shoot the three-ball as they have a NSIC leading 188 three-point field goals on the season. However, as a team they struggle shooting from the floor as USF shoots just 39.4 percent on all field goals, ranking No. 14 in the conference. The Cougars are led by senior Laura Johnson who averages 14.8 points per game and 7.9 rebounds per game, both team-highs. Johnson was named NSIC Player of the Week on Feb. 3 of this season as she averaged 25.5 points per game and 8.5 rebounds per game in wins over Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State. Taylor Varsho will also be a viable scoring threat for USF as she average 14.5 points per game.

NOTING THE MUSTANGS: Southwest Minnesota State University lost their first ten Northern Sun games to start the 2013-14 season but have rattled off two wins in their last eight games. During that eight game stretch, SMSU has averaged 64.0 points per game, almost two points above their season total. The Mustangs are one of the better defensive teams in the conference as they give up an average of 68.5 points per game, ranking them seventh in the NSIC. One of SMSU's downfalls is their ability to shoot the three-pointer as they rank last in the NSIC with a 28.8 shooting percentage from beyond the arc. The Mustangs have just one play averaging 10 or more points per game, senior Alison Nagel with 13. points per game and a team-high 5.9 rebounds per game. Nagel has scored in double figures in 14-of-20 games this season.

60 POINTS AWAY: Carly Boag (Sr., F, Tamworth, Australia) currently sits in second place on the Minot State women's basketball all-time scoring list with 1,651 career points.  Boag needs just 60 points to surpass Kendra Meyer to become to program's all-time scoring leader. She leads the Northern Sun in scoring so far this season, averaging 20.9 points per game. Boag has scored 460 points total 22 games into her senior season.

MISU Women's Basketball All-Time Leaders
1,710    Kendra Meyer            2004-2008
1,651    Carly Boag                 2010-Present
1,620    Kayla Blom                1998-2002
1,372    MacKenzie Mack       2006-2010
1,249    Jamie Lamoureux    1999-2003
 
LEAVING HER MARK: With the all-time scoring record within sight, Boag could add another prestigious record to her name. This season Boag has become the program's all-time leading rebounder with 945 rebounds, all-time shot blocker with 99 blocks, while also pacing to become the holder for best career field goal percentage. Entering this weekend's games, Boag has a career percentage of 56.6 percent; the all-time record is currently held by Tiffany Hegel (1994-1998) with 54.6 percent.

DISHING IT OUT: From the beginning of the season, Minot State has been at the top of the Northern Sun and All of NCAA Division II in regards to assists per game as they currently average 19.0 assists per game as a team, first in the conference and fourth in the nation. The Beavers have racked up 417 assists on the year and are on pace to break the school record for assists per game, currently held by the 1999-2000 team which averaged 18.6 assists per game.
 
MAJORITY RULES: The Minot State starting five has been the same for 21-of-22 games during the 2013-14 season and they have shown their ability to carry the scoring load. These five players have scored 73.1 percent of all the Beavers' points this season. However, the Beavers have all five starters score double-digits in the same game just twice this season, both were wins.

Minot State starting five points per game
Senior    Carly Boag             20.9 ppg
Junior     Christina Boag     12.2 ppg
Junior     Katie Hardy            12.0 ppg
Senior    Alisha Jones          11.3 ppg
Junior     Morgan Klose        9.3 ppg

HARDY'S STELLAR PERFORMANCE: In the 74-66 road win over Bemidji State, Katie Hardy (Jr., F, Fairview, N.D.) did something no other Minot State player has done in the past five years. Hardy played an outstanding all-around game scoring a season-high 20 points while also dishing out five assists and grabbing six rebounds.

TOUGH TIMES AT LYSAKER: Since joining NCAA Division II and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in 2012-13, Minot State women's basketball has not performed well when playing at Lysaker Gymnasium, the home of the University of Minnesota Crookston. In two losses at Lysaker, MISU has shot just 35.7 percent from the field and just 21.9 percent from beyond the arc.  

SENIOR SAULTE: Both Alisha Jones (Sr., G, Killeen, Texas) and Carly Boag (Sr., F, Tamworth, Australia) have been major reasons for the success of the Beavers this season. The senior duo has put up great numbers, ranking them high in the conference ranks, but also in the national ranks. Jones and Boag will be playing in their final regular season home games this weekend.

Name                Category                             Average              NSIC Rank    NCAA DII Rank
Alisha Jones    Assists Per Game            4.5 APG              4th                   53rd
Alisha Jones    3-pt Percentage                46.9 Percent      4th                   5th
Carly Boag        Field Goal Percentage    59.1 Percent      1st                  18th
Carly Boag       Rebounds Per Game      10.1 RPG            3rd                  30th
Carly Boag       Points Per Game              20.9 PPG            1st                  18th
Carly Boag       Steals Per Game              3.0 SPG               2nd                13th

BY THE NUMBERS
37: In 2012-13, Carly Boag (Sr., F, Tamworth, Australia) scored a career-high 37 points in a road win over University of Sioux Falls. Boag also grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds and went 11-of-12 from the free throw line.

20: Last time Minot State and the Mustangs faced, MISU jumped to quick 20 point lead with 8:37 remaining in the first half.

75.0: The Lady Beavers are currently averaging 75.0 point per game. The team is on pace to break the single-season school record in the statistic, currently held by the 1997-98 team with 74.4 points per game as they went 21-8 on the year.