THIS WEEK: Minot State travels to Augustana University for the first round of the NSIC / Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament Wednesday at 6 p.m. MSU is the No. 6 seed from the NSIC North Division, while Augie is No. 3 from the South. The winner advances to the Sanford Pentagon for the quarterfinals against the winner of North No. 2 seed Minnesota State University Moorhead and South No. 7 seed Upper Iowa Sunday at 8 p.m.

RECORDS: MSU finished the regular season with an 11-17 overall record, finishing 8-14 in the NSIC North Division. Augie finished third in the South Division with a 15-7 overall record and went 21-7 overall. MSU Moorhead is also a 20-game winner at 20-5 overall and 17-5 in the North, while Upper Iowa starts the tournament at 5-23 overall and 2-19 in the South Division.

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 357-256 overall record. Green Gerding is the Beavers all-time wins leader and has all 357 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. Augustana University's head coach is Dave Krauth, one of the top coaches in NCAA Division II as he has amassed 551 wins against just 245 loses in his 26th season. MSUM's head coach is Karla Nelson. Nelson is in her 16th season at the helm of the Dragons program and is 277-176 overall. Mike Sybrant is the Interim head women's basketball coach at Upper Iowa, having been named to the position before the start of the postseason. He was hired in July as an assistant coach.

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 but MSU Moorhead and Augustana University come into the weekend as the No. 7 and No. 10 teams in the NCAA Division II Central Region poll. The NSIC has five of the top 10 teams as Winona State (4), Sioux Falls (8) and Northern State (9) join the Dragons and Vikings. The top 8 teams advance to the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball National Tournament.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State split a pair of games to end the regular season, knocking off St. Cloud State Friday 73-63, but fell 67-53 in the regular season finale to Minnesota Duluth. Sarah Lester (Sr., G, Frenchtown, Mont.) scored a career-high 30 points in the win Friday, while Madison Wald (Fr., G, Minot, N.D.) hit for 12 points in the loss Saturday. Savana Kingsbury (Sr., F, Omaha, Neb.) pulled down 10 rebounds in each game. Augustana also split two home games, topping Upper Iowa 77-67 Friday behind Sydney Rome's 18 points, but were upended 69-59 by No. 8 ranked Winona State Saturday. MSU Moorhead won for the fourth straight time and the 12th time in the past 14 games, sweeping Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston. Cassidy Thorson scored 21 in the win over BSU and Morgan Banasik added 20 in the win over UMC. Upper Iowa fell twice to end the season, dropping a 77-67 game at Augie and a 73-49 loss at Wayne State for the Peacocks' ninth straight loss. Whitney Kieffer scored 20 and 18 respectively in the losses.

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: The Beavers have just one win against Augustana University, trailing the all-time series 5-1. MSU also trails the all-time series with MSU Moorhead going back its NAIA days 18-5, but three of the five wins have been since joining the Northern Sun. The Dragons, however, have won four straight in the series. Minot State is perfect in five games against Upper Iowa including a playoff win two seasons ago at home.

LAST TIME OUT: Augustana University built a big lead and then held on as MSU made a four-quarter run, topping MSU 87-70 in Sioux Falls, S.D., Jan. 31. The Beavers got the game to within 11 points in the fourth quarter after trailing by as many as 27 during the game, but couldn't complete the comeback. Savana Kingsbury (Sr., F, Omaha, Neb.) scored 21 points to lead Minot State, while Sarah Lester (Sr., F, Frenchtown, Mont.) finished with 17 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in the loss. Sydney Rome and Logan O'Farrell scored in double figures with 12 and 11 points respectively for the Vikings. MSUM pulled away for a 73-55 win over the Beavers in January in Moorhead, Minn. Minot State held on for a thrilling 71-69 double overtime win over Upper Iowa in January at the Dome.

NOTING THE VIKINGS: Augustana University had a four-game winning streak snapped by nationally ranked Winona State, a streak that saw the Vikings earn road wins at MSU Moorhead and the University of Sioux Falls… Augie has cranked up 801 3-pointers on the season, making 235 for a 29.3 percent clip. The 801 is by far the most taken in the league as only one other team has shot over 700. The 235 makes is second in the NSIC… Nicole Kerkhoff leads a balanced scoring attack that has four averaging double figures with 11.5 per game… She is the team's leader in rounding as well with 7.1 per outing… Sophie Kenney has dished out 124 assists on the season compared to just 43 turnovers and is averaging 10.4 points per game… Shelby Selland's 46 blocked shots in two more blocks than Minot State has as a team.

NOTING THE DRAGONS: Minnesota State University Moorhead has lost just once in its last eight games, falling 74-69 to Augustana University Feb. 6. In fact, the Dragons have only fallen three times in 2016, taking a three-point loss at nationally ranked Winona State and an 11-point game at Minnesota Crookston… The Dragons have an impressive 9.2 scoring margin mainly due to a solid defense that is holding opponents to just 60.7 points per game… Morgan Banasik and Heather Strese provide MSUM with one of the best inside-outside combos as Banasik leads the team with a 14.7 scoring average and has 56 assists and 42 steals this season. Strese is second on the team in scoring (13.2), rebounds (7.4) and blocked shots (13).

NOTING THE PEACOCKS: Upper Iowa has struggled in the New Year as they have just two wins in 2016 and have lost nine straight games… Scoring has been an issue at UIU as the Peacocks average just 58.7 points per game… Aleesha Cleaver and Whitney Kieffer are averaging in double figures with 13.1 and 12.8 points per game respectively… Kieffer is the team's leader in rebounding (5.3) and steals (47) and is third in assists (41)… The Peacocks have turned the ball over 467 times in 2015-16 and are last in the NSIC in assist-to-turnover margin with a 0.5.

ROAD WARRIORS: This marks the third time in four seasons Minot State will travel for the first round of the NSIC postseason tournament. The Beavers started their first postseason tournament in Sioux Falls with the Vikings in 2012-13, falling 66-51. The following season, MSU had its first home game – and its first win in the postseason tournament, edging Upper Iowa 74-73 before falling to eventual tournament champion and NCAA Elite Eight team Concordia-St. Paul in the quarterfinals. Last season, MSU pushed Minnesota State before falling 87-73 in Mankato, Minn.

RARE OUTBURST: Unless you name is Boag, 30-point scoring games have been rare since Minot State joined NCAA Division II. Sarah Lester's (Sr., F, Frenchtown, Mont.) 30-point game Friday against St. Cloud State was the 10th time a MSU player has reached 30 points in a game since moving to DII, but the first time it wasn't Carly Boag. The former MSU All-American, Boag has nine of the 10, including the NSIC postseason record for points in a game and Minot State's single game scoring record, by dropping 46 on Upper Iowa two years ago. Lester's 12 field goals was the most by a Beavers since Boag bucketed 18 in the record-setting game.

10 FOR 30 SPONSORED BY MINOT STATE

Player	Points	Opponent	Date
Carly Boag	46	Upper Iowa	2/26/14
Carly Boag	39	Southwest Minnesota St.	2/15/14
Carly Boag	37	Upper Iowa	1/11/13
Carly Boag	37	Sioux Falls	2/8/13
Carly Boag	33	Minnesota Crookston	2/16/13
Carly Boag	32	Augustana College	1/4/14
Carly Boag	31	Bemidji State	2/15/13
Carly Boag	31	University of Mary	12/01/12
Carly Boag	30	University of Mary	12/20/13
Sarah Lester	30	St. Cloud State	2/19/16

    
A POINT HERE OR THERE: Minot State seniors Sarah Lester (F, Frenchtown, Mont.) and Savana Kingsbury (F, Omaha, Neb.) have paced the Beavers all season and over the last month of the year have distance themselves from the rest of the group. The duo is separated by just a point on the season as Lester leads MSU with 326 points and Kingsbury 325, both good for an 11.6 average. Kingsbury's 231 rebounds are tops for the Beavers, while Lester is second at 171. No other MSU player has reached the 70s in rebounds.

BY THE NUMBERS

9.0: Scoring average for redshirt freshman Kari Clements (G, Trevor, Wis.), hitting for 251 points in her first season on the court. It is the second highest point total by an MSU freshman over the past decade behind Carly Boag's 301 points in 2010-11.  

33: Percent on 3-pointers for freshman Madison Wald (G, Minot, N.D.) who has emerged as MSU's top shooter from beyond the arc. She has hit 14-42 on the year.

633: Points for junior Alex Haley (G, Libertyville, Ill.), MSU's career active points scored leader. Haley carries a 9.2 points per game average this season and a 7.9 career scoring average.