Women's Basketball | February 12, 2015

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Teams: Minot State vs Concordia St. Paul | Series: MSU leads 12-3
Date: Friday, Feb. 13, 2015 | Time: 6 p.m. | Site: Minot State Dome
Teams: Minot State vs Minnesota State | Series: MSU leads 7-4
Date: Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015 | Time: 4 p.m. | Site: Minot State Dome

THIS WEEK: Minot State finishes its 2014-15 home schedule with a pair of NSIC North games, taking on Minnesota Crookston Friday and Bemidji State Saturday.

RECORDS: The Beavers come into the weekend at 9-15 overall and are 4-14 in the Northern Sun. Minnesota Crookston is an even 11-11 overall and is 10-8 in Northern Sun play, while BSU come into the weekend with a 6-17 overall record and is 3-15 in the 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 343-235 overall record. Green Gerding is the Beavers all-time wins leader and has all 342 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. Mike Roysland is in his eighth season at UM Crookston and is 76-161 overall. Mike Cufman has been at Bemidji State a decade and is just shy of 100 career wins, coming into the weekend 97-171 with the Beavers.

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 receive votes in the latest Women's Basketball Coaches Association Division II Poll.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State dropped a pair of games at NSIC South Division powerhouses Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State last week. The Beavers were not good to start both halves against Concordia-St. Paul, losing 80-45. Katie Hardy (Sr., F, Fairview, N.D.) and Alex Haley (So., G, Libertyville, Ill.) paced the Beavers with 10 points apiece. MSU was much better early, holding a six-point lead at Minnesota State, which received votes in the national poll, but couldn't hang on, falling 75-61. Sarah Lester (Jr., G, Frenchtown, Mont.) had 15 points and six rebounds for the Beavers. UMC swept the University of Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State last weekend at home. UMC knocked off Sioux Falls 71-62 behind Katrina Moenkedick's 22 points, 11 rebounds and blew out SMSU 78-54 as Emily Gruber scored a game-high 17. BSU earned a split against the two NSIC South teams as the Beavers defeated SMSU 62-51 Friday, but fell by a point to USF, 70-69. Sierra Senska continued to be a bright spot for BSU as she hit for 16 points each night and led the Beavers with 11 rebounds in each outing to average a double-double.

OVERALL SERIES: Minot State leads both teams in the overall series, holding a 12-3 lead on Minnesota Crookston dating back to when both were members of the North Dakota Collegiate Athletic Conference and is leading BSU 7-4 overall. The Beavers split a pair of games on the road at BSU and UMC earlier in the season, beating BSU and falling at Crookston.

NOTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES: Minnesota Crookston is in the hunt for a home playoff game as the Golden Eagles are third in the NSIC North Division at 10-8, a game in front of both St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth. Minot State plays an important role in deciding who host a first-round game as the Beavers play all three of those teams down the stretch… Katrina Moenkedick is the reigning NSIC North Division Player of the Week as she averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds, pacing the Golden Eagles to a home sweep last week. She has 984 career points and is ninth all-time in school history in scoring… Alexa Thielman is also chasing 1,000 points in her career and leads the Golden Eagles this season with 370 points. She has hit 50 of the team's 132 3-pointers and has 39 steals… Ebony Livingston is a great free throw shooting and has been to the line a great deal, hitting 60 of 67 from the charity stripe.

NOTING THE BSU BEAVERS: Bemidji State has struggled on the court at times this year and it shows in their starting combinations. The Beavers have started 12 different players this year and eight have started eight games or fewer… Sierra Senske has been extremely consistent for the Beavers this year, leading the team with a 15.1 points-per-game scoring average and 141 total rebounds… Turnovers have hurt BSU as they have 346 miscues on the season… The first half has been BSU's downfall this year as the Beavers have been outscored 861-698 before the break… Aimee Pelzer and Tatum Sheley join Senske in double figures per game and have 260 and 220 points respectively… Hanna Zerr and Pelzer have combined for 43 starts and 122 assists on the year.

SENIOR SALUTE: Minot State's three seniors will play their final game on the home court at the MSU Dome and have been a big part of the Beavers first three years in the Northern Sun. MSU is 41-38 since joining the league as Morgan Klose (G, Fairview, N.D.) Katie Hardy (F, Fairview, N.D.) and Christina Boag (F, Tamworth, Australia) have combined for 311 games, 2,838 points, 1,376 rebounds and 551 assists. Klose will each 800 for her career this weekend as she is just six points shy and Bog and Hardy became the 12th and 13th members of the MSU 1,000-point club this season.

NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP: Minot State sophomore's Alex Haley (G, Libertyville, Ill.) and Diondra Denton (G, Great Falls, Mont.) have had solid seasons in their sophomore years. Haley is second on the team in scoring at 10.8 and has 66 assists, good for second as well. Denton averages 9.0 points per game and 4.1 rebounds per game, making 18 starts this year.

QUEEN OF THE BOARDS: Savana Kingsbury (Jr., F, Omaha, Neb.) has been a rebounding machine all season for the Beavers, pulling down an average of 6.3 rebounds per game. During an especially good January, Kingsbury earned her first double-double and had seven games with at least seven rebounds. She has also upped her scoring average from 5.1 at the end of December to 5.8 points per game.

SARAH SURGE: MSU junior guard Sarah Lester (Frenchtown, Mont.) scored 24 points combined in two games last weekend. She scored 15 points and added six rebounds in the loss at Minnesota State and scored nine points and added eight rebounds against Concordia-St. Paul. She currently is scoring 6.1 points per game and has a 3.6 rebounds-per-game average.

BY THE NUMBERS
-1.1: Minot State's scoring margin. For the first time this season, MSU dipped below its opponents in scoring. The Beavers continue to lead its opponents in the first half, 771-758, but have giving up 39 more points in the second half of games.

12: Diondra Denton's (So., G, Great Falls, Mont.) position in the league in offensive rebounds. Denton, despite a hip injury that slowed her down this year, has averaged 2.2 offensive rebounds per game.

19,939: Fans to watch MSU in action this season. The Beavers have played in front of just under 20,000 fans this year, with 12,634 of those coming at the MSU Dome. Minot State is fourth in the league in average attendance per game, just under 1,000 a night at 972. The NSIC has a total attendance of 299,079 so far this season.