THIS WEEK: Minot State takes its final Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular-season road trip as the Beavers travel down US Highway 2 to play Minnesota Crookston Friday (6 p.m.) and Bemidji State Saturday (4 p.m.)

RECORDS: MSU is 9-15 overall and is 6-12 in Northern Sun play, sitting in a tie with Minnesota Duluth and U-Mary for fifth in the NSIC North Division. UMC is sitting in a tie for third place and would clinch a home playoff game with at least one win this weekend as the Golden Eagles are 12-6 in league play and 15-7 overall. BSU is in eighth in the NSIC North at 3-15 and is 7-15 overall.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State is coached by Sheila Green Gerding. In her 21st season at the helm of the Beaver women's basketball program, Green Gerding has amassed an impressive 355-254 overall record. Green Gerding is the Beavers all-time wins leader and has all 355 wins at MSU. 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 10th season at Minnesota Crookston and is 94-170 overall, but is 29-21 over his past two seasons at UMC. Bemidji State is under first-year head coach Chelsea DeVille, who played her collegiate basketball at NSIC member Augustana University and coached in the league as an assistant at the University of Sioux Falls. She is 7-15 over the course of her first season.

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 – with Leif Bakken serving as the play-by-play announcer – and live stats as well as links to the live audio at msubeavers.com. Minot State Athletics also is active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and You Tube with all feeds accessible at msubeavers.com/stayconnected.

RANKINGS: None of the three team involved were ranked in the latest WBCA Division II Top 25 poll or the D2SIDA Central Region Poll.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State gave up one too many offensive rebounds to Minnesota State to spoil a chance at a weekend sweep as the Mavericks scored just before the buzzer on a putback to take a 61-60 win Saturday. MSU had previously knocked off Concordia-St. Paul 71-66 Friday. Sarah Lester (Sr., F, Frenchtown, Mont.) had a big weekend for Minot State, scoring 20 points Friday and adding 21 points and 12 rebounds Saturday. UMC fell at the University of Sioux Falls, this week's No. 25 ranked team in the country, 64-55, but rebounded for an 85-65 win over Southwest Minnesota State. Isieoma Odor had 18 points and eight rebounds Friday, while Alexa Thielman scored 18 in the win Saturday. BSU struggled to score both nights on the road, falling 73-52 at SMSU and 87-60 at USF. Hanna Zerr was tied for the team lead in points Friday with 11 and led her team with 15 Saturday. Aimee Pelzer pulled down 11 rebounds to go along with 11 points Friday for the BSU Beavers.

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: The Beavers lead both schools in their respective all-time matchups, winning its fifth straight game over BSU at the Dome in early January for a 9-4 series lead. UMC cut into the Beavers all-time lead with a win in Minot earlier this season, but Minot State leads that series 13-4 dating back to when both teams were a member of the NAIA.

LAST TIME OUT: It was a tale of two games as MSU set a team record for margin of victory over an NSIC team in an 80-49 win over Bemidji State in the first game back after winter break. MSU then scored just 43 points the following night as the Beavers lost 63-43 against Minnesota Crookston. MSU had four players in double figures and seven scored at least seven points, paced by Kori Eurich's (Jr., G, Pueblo, Colo.) 13 in the win over BSU. Bemidji's Aimee Pelzer netted 13 as well to lead BSU. UMC, however, defeated MSU during a game where they only shot 38 percent, mainly due to holding Minot State to 24 percent shooting of its own. Alexia Thielman scored 17 points and added 10 rebounds to pace Crookston, while Eurich led the Beavers with just seven points.

NOTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES: Minnesota Crookston is looking to finish off one of its best seasons in recent memory as the Golden Eagles have won 15 games for the first time since the 2004-05 season where they won a school record 16 games, going 16-12… UMC sports one of the best 1-2 punches in the NSIC as Katrina Nordick and Alexa Thielman have combined to scored 722 points and pull down 259 rebounds… UMC's starters have been intact for all but one game as Nordick, Thielman, Alison Hughes, Micaela Noga and Emily Gruber have 108 of the 110 starts between them… The UMC 5 also accounts for 1338 of the team's 1614 points and 563 of UMC's 827 rebounds… Nordick leads the team with a 16.8 scoring average and a 7.0 rebounding average… Thielman has hit 69 of 150 3-pointers, good for 46 percent… Coming in right behind her is Hughes who has hit 46 of 101… They have helped the Golden Eagles knock down 41.8 percent beyond the arc.

NOTING THE BSU BEAVERS: Bemidji State has struggled in conference after posting a 4-0 conference record. BSU is just 3-15 in NSIC play and has been held below 60 points in eight of those games… Sierra Senske continues to lead the team on offensive and in rebounding as she averages 13.9 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game… BSU also has a solid starting five as four players, Senske, Tatum Sheley, Aimee Pelzer and Hanna Zerr have all started in all 22 games and all four average in double figures… Pelzer leads the team with 44 3-pointers and 85 assists, while comes in second in rebounding at 5.8. She has an impressive 107 defensive rebounds for a 5-foot-9 guard… Unforced errors have been critical for BSU as they have earned more steals than their opponents 156-142, but have 38 more turnovers than opponents… Pelzer and Zerr both average better than 34 minutes per game.

500-500 CLUB, PART II: Savana Kingsbury (Sr., F, Omaha, Neb.) and Sarah Lester (Sr., F, Frenchtown, Mont.) are both part of the 500 point club at Minot State as Lester moved past the mark last week, joining Kingsbury who reached it a couple games ago. Lester has averaged 19.3 points per game over her last three games to jump over the 500 point line and has moved her season average up to 10.7 per outing.

ELITE COMPANY: When MSU's Savana Kingsbury (Sr., F, Omaha, Neb.)pulled down her 500th rebound last week, she joined an elite group of players to wear the red and green. She became the 15th player in school history to reach the plateau and is the third player in the past three seasons to surpass 500 as the Boag sisters Carly and Christina are two members of the exclusive club. Carly Boag remains the team's all-time leader with 1,030 rebounds in an impressive career from 2010-15, while Kingsbury becomes the first player to reach the level all at NCAA Division II. She has 508 and is should pass former MSU great Caroline Folven this weekend and could finish as high as 11th in school history.

BOARD GAMES  

Player	Total	Seasons
Carly Boag	1,030	2010-14
Cindy Tutin	812	1983-87
Michelle Henderson	806	1998-2001
Kim Chrest	764	1985-89
Carla Brunsell	686	1994-98
Christina Boag	683	2010-15
MacKenzie Mack	653	2006-10
Jenn Sundahl	601	2002-05
Brittni Walker	572	2005-08
LeeAnn Pekovitch	569	1999-2004
Jenny Castro	552	2003-07
Caroline Folven	515	2007-11
Savana Kingsbury	508	2012-Present
Jamie Lamoureux	501	1999-2003
Lindsey Johnson	500	2000-04

NEARLY AUTOMATIC: MSU freshman Madison Wald (G, Minot, N.D.) hasn't made enough trips to the free throw line to qualify for the NSIC leaderboard, but she has been nearly unblemished from the line. Wald has knocked down 16 of 17 free throws on the season and was 10 for 10 at one point. She leads the Beavers with a 94.1 percent clip at the line.

DRIVING THE 3 CARR: Shyla Carr (Fr., G, Spokane, Wash.) nearly pulled off a big win for the Beavers last week when she canned a 3-pointer with 10.1 seconds remaining in the game against Minnesota State. Unfortunately for Minot State, the Mavericks squeaked one out at the buzzer, but that didn't cloud the fact that Carr, who has just 233 minutes on the season, hit three 3-pointers in the game, a career high. Carr only had six made 3s total on the season coming into the weekend and now has nine triples and his shooting 30 percent from beyond the arc.

BY THE NUMBERS

0: Wins for Minot State at Minnesota Crookston's Lysaker Gymnasium in the three seasons in the NSIC. MSU is 0-3 away from the Dome during its time in the league against UMC.

9: Players who have reached double figures in made free throws for Minot State despite not having one with more than 67 makes. Savana Kingsbury (Sr., F, Omaha, Neb.) leads the team with 67 made free throws and is knocking them down at a 80.7 percent rate.

42: Steals for Kari Clements (R-Fr., G, Trevor, Wis.) to lead the team. Clements ranks 12th in the NSIC and second among freshman in the league for steals.