Women's Basketball | January 15, 2015

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Teams: Minot State at Upper Iowa | Series: MSU leads 3-0
Date: Friday, Jan. 16, 2015 | Time: 6 p.m. | Site: Dorman Gymnasium
Teams: Minot State at Winona State | Series: MSU leads 2-0
Date: Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015 | Time: 4 p.m. | Site: McCown Gymnasium

THIS WEEK: Minot State hits the road for its longest road trip of the conference season, traveling to Upper Iowa Friday and Winona State Saturday. Game times are set for 6 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday.

RECORDS: The Beavers come into the weekend at 7-9 overall and are 2-8 in the Northern Sun. Upper Iowa is also 2-8 in NSIC play and is 4-10 overall. Winona State has the best record of the trio as the Warriors are 11-3 overall and 7-3 in NSIC games.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State is coached by Sheila Green Gerding. In her 20th season at the helm of the Beaver women's basketball program, Green Gerding has amassed an impressive 341-231 overall record. Green Gerding is the Beavers all-time wins leader and has all 340 wins with the Beavers. 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. Carol Russell is in her fifth season as the head coach at UIU, going 18-102 at the school and is 176-159 in 11 seasons as a head coach. Scott Ballard is in his 11th season with the Warriors as is 171-140 with WSU. In 25 years of coaching overall, Ballard has a solid 440-265 career mark.

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. Friday's game Minot State Athletics also is active on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Instagram and Pinterest with all feeds accessible at msubeavers.com/stayconnected.

RANKINGS: None of the three teams playing this weekend received votes in the latest Women's Basketball Coaches Association Division II Poll.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State fell twice at home, losing 66-47 to No. 6 ranked Northern State and gave up a late lead in a 67-64 loss to Minnesota State University Moorhead. Alex Haley (So., G, Libertyville, Ill.) hit for a game-high 14 points to lead the Beavers Friday, while Christina Boag (Sr., F, Tamworth, Australia) averaged 14 points and six rebounds on the weekend, including a 19-point, seven-rebound effort against MSUM. Upper Iowa split a pair of NSIC home games this past weekend, topping Southwest Minnesota State for the second time this year, winning 74-63 Friday, before falling 75-61 against the University of Sioux Falls. Lauren Buck continued to have a solid season, pacing the Peacocks with 15 rebounds Friday and 14 rebounds – to go along with 22 points – on Saturday. Winona Sate avenged one of its three losses this year with a 69-52 thumping of Sioux Falls Friday and finished off a sweep with a 56-48 win over SMSU. Connor Nagle scored 16 points and Kayla Timmerman added 12 rebounds in the win over USF, while Alex Foley scored 15 for WSU against the Mustangs.

OVERALL SERIES: MSU has had success against its two South Division foes as the Beavers are 5-0 overall against the duo all comings since joining the Northern Sun. The Beavers are 3-0 against Upper Iowa, winning regular season games in both Minot and Fayette, Iowa, along with a thrilling 74-73 win over the Peacocks in the first round of the NSIC tournament last year. Former Minot State standout and All-American Carly Boag scored 46 points, a school and NSIC tournament record, in the win, while sister Christina Boag (Sr., F, Tamworth, Australia) netted 12 points and dished out five assists in the win. MSU defeated Winona State 60-59 in another nail-bitter during the regular season to run its record to 2-0 against the Warriors.

NOTING THE PEACOCKS: Upper Iowa University's Lauren Buck has been one of the top players in the conference all season, averaging 15.4 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. Buck has hit for at least 20 points five times and has led the team in scoring nine times… Four UIU players average at least 9.8 points per game as Lindsay Carroll and Olivia Winkler join Buck in double figures at 12.9 and 12.2 points per game respectively… The Peacocks are the best free throw shooting teams in the league, hitting 223 out of 292 free throws… Turnovers have plagued UIU as the Peacocks as they have 235 miscues on the season… Upper Iowa has gone to overtime twice this season, losing both times, including an 80-75 setback to Minnesota State. Out of a total of 2,850 minutes, UIU has six players accumulating 2,423 of them.

NOTING THE WARRIORS: Winona State University has had six different players lead the team in scoring over its first 14 games, including four straight different players in the past four games… WSU is third in the conference with a plus-14.1 scoring margin, mainly due to its third-best 56.6 scoring defense average… WSU has been balanced all season with only two players starting every game, eight with at least one start and 10 players with 155 minutes or more… Tara Roelofs leads the tema in scoring at 12.6 points per game, hitting 48 percent of her shots from the field and 42 percent of her 3-pointers. But Roelofs' free throw shooting is even better, missing just three free throws in 22 attempts… Kayla Timmerman has 28 blocks on the season, just three fewer than the rest of the team combined… The Warriors are tops in the conference in 3-pointer percentage, just a shade under 40 percent as a team, knocking down 99 of 248 attempts…

CLOSING THE GAP: Minot State's Christina Boag (Sr., F, Tamworth, Australia) and Katie Hardy (Sr., F, Fairview, N.D.) are both moving closer to milestones. Boag is just 46 points away from reaching 1,000 career points and would become just the sixth player in school history to score 1,000 points and pull down 500 rebounds. She has 557 rebounds in her career. Boag is also just 16 assists from 200 and 14 blocks from 100. Hardy needs 68 points to reach 1,000 in her career and is 98 rebounds away from 500. She has 932 points and 402 rebounds in a stellar four-year career.

BALANCE THE KEY TO LIFE: Minot State has four players in double figures and six players averaging at least 5.1 on the season. Christina Boag (Sr., F, Tamworth, Australia) has moved to the top of the list with an 11.9 scoring average, while Alex Haley (So., G, Libertyville, Ill.) is second with a 10.5 points per game average. Diondra Denton (So., G, Great Falls, Mont.) and Katie Hardy (Sr., F, Fairview, N.D.) come in at 10.1 and 10.0 respectively.

EFFICIENT SCORING: Alex Haley (So., G, Libertyville, Ill.) has continued to score at a high rate per shots taken. She leads the team in field goal percentage, knocking down 51.6 percent, which ranks high in the NSIC for guards. Haley has made 65 of 126 shots this season, leading the team in field goals made as well. She is also shooting 45.5 on 3-pointers and is tied for second on the team in free throw shooting percentage, hitting 77.8 percent.

DOUBLE DISH: Morgan Klose (Sr., G, Fairview, N.D.) and Alex Haley (So., G, Libertyville, Ill.) have done a nice job distributing the ball as the two have combined for 87 assists on the season. Haley leads the Beavers with 44, while Klose is a close second at 43.

BY THE NUMBERS
17: Steals for team leader Morgan Klose (Sr., G, Fairview, N.D.). While MSU as a team has 107 steals, the Beavers don't have a player with 20 individually through 16 games. MSU has six players, however, with double figures in steals, led by Klose.

33: Assists for junior guard Amanda Sansaver (Wolf Point, Mont.), third on the team and one of four players to have more assists than turnovers as she has just 28 miscues this season.

35: Offensive rebounds for sophomore Diondra Denton (G, Great Falls, Mont.). Denton leads the team with 35 offensive boards and is tied for third on the team in total rebounds with 73.