THIS WEEK: Minot State travels to Minnesota State and Concordia-St. Paul for a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference road games. Minot is at Minnesota State Friday starting at 6 p.m. and in St. Paul to play CSP Saturday starting at 4 p.m.

RECORDS: MSU is 3-13 overall comes into the weekend with a 1-7 NSIC record, sitting in a tie seventh in the North Division. Minnesota State is sixth in the South Division at 3-7 in NSIC play and is 7-7 overall. CSP begins the weekend in fifth overall with a 5-5 record in league play and is 9-7 overall.

COACHES CORNER: Minot State is coached by Sheila Green Gerding. In her 22nd season at the helm of the Beaver women's basketball program, Green Gerding has amassed an impressive 360-270 overall record. Green Gerding is the Beavers all-time wins leader and has all 360 wins at MSU. The Mavericks head coach is Emilee Thiesse, who is in her fifth season with the school. She is 86-47 overall. Amanda Johnson is the Golden Bears head coach after being officially named the position in April 2016. She spent part of last season as the team's interim head coach. She is 18-17 overall.

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 teams playing this weekend were ranked in either the WBCA Division II Top 25 poll or the D2SIDA Media Poll Central Region Poll.

RECENT HISTORY: Minot State battled a pair of ranked teams last weekend, but were unable to pull off an upset at home. The Beavers fell 66-52 against No. 24 ranked MSU Moorhead as the team went cold late in the game. Kari Clements finished with 15 points for Minot State. On Saturday, it was the middle quarters that did the Beavers in as they fell behind before rallying late in a 76-66 loss. Madison Wald had the hot hand for MSU, scoring 14 points in the loss. Minnesota State lost its fifth straight game Tuesday as the Mavericks fell 72-61 to travel partner Concordia-St. Paul at home. Sammie Delzotto scored 12 points and pulled down seven rebounds in the loss for MSU. The Mavericks haven't won a conference game since a 86-68 win over CSP Dec. 17. The Golden Bears snapped a four-game losing streak last Saturday, topping Augustana University 83-77 at home and then dispatched the Mavericks Tuesday. Anna Schmitt scored 26 points in each of her last two games, while Kyrah Fredenburg has pulled down 38 rebounds in her past three games, leading CSP with 12 Tuesday.

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: The Beavers earned their first win over Concordia-St. Paul last year with a 71-66 win at the MSU Dome. MSU trails the all-time series 3-1. Minot State has yet to beat Minnesota State as the Mavericks have a 5-0 lead in the series including at 2015 NSIC Tournament win.

LAST TIME OUT: Minot State split a pair of game against the Mavericks and Golden Bears last season at Minot. Minnesota State escaped the MSU Dome with a 61-60 win as Claire Ziegler scored at the buzzer to lift the Mavs. The Beavers took a 60-59 lead on a 3-pointer by Shyla Carr with 12 seconds to play to erased a four-point Minnesota State lead in the final 22 seconds of the game. Sarah Lester finished with a double-double, leading Minot State with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Three other Beavers cored nine including Carr and Madison Wald. Madison Lee led Minnesota State with 23 points off the bench. Against CSP, the Beavers erased an 11-point halftime deficit with a 48-32 second half. Lester led four players in double figures with 20 points, while Savana Kingsbury finished with 14 rebounds and 12 points. Kari Clements scored 13 points off the bench with four 3-pointers. Lauren Shifflett finished with 14 for CSP.

NOTING THE MAVERICKS: Minnesota State has struggled since the start of December. After winning four-straight to start the season, the Mavericks are just 3-7 overall… The Mavs have been a solid rebounding team, pulling down 4.3 more than its opponents at 42.0 per game… Claire Ziegler and Britney Scherber both average double figures for the Mavericks at 12.3 and 11.1 points per game respectively… Ziegler nearly averages a double-double with 8.5 rebounds per game… Scherber is the team's leader in 3-poitners with 25 on the season and has missed just eight free throws in 44 attempts… Taylor Klug has been solid handling the ball, recording just nine turnovers compared to 25 assists in 14 games.

NOTING THE GOLDEN BEARS: Concordia-St. Paul stopped a four-game losing streak with a big win over Augustana University at home Saturday and followed that up with a win over rival and travel partner Minnesota State in a rare Tuesday game… The four-game skid was a season long for CSP and the modest two-game win streak is just the third time CSP has won two in a row… Anna Schmitt has been consistently the top offensive threat for the Golden Bears as she is the only player on the team averaging in double figures at 16.6 per game… Kyrah Fredenburg has pulled down 132 defensive rebounds for a 10.3 rebounding average, tied for the top average in the NSIC… The Golden Bears have a been stellar at the line all year with a 74.9 average.

DOUBLE DIGIT BLOCKS: MSU freshman Haley Hildenbrand leads the team with 10 blocked shots on the season. While that total isn't going to get Hildenbrand into the top 20 in the league, it is nearly half of the Beavers total of 25. No other MSU player has more than four blocked shots on the season.

MINUTE MAKER: Kari Clements has logged 32.8 minutes per game to lead the team and sit in seventh in the league overall. She is the only MSU player who is getting more than 27 minutes per game. She has made the most of the time in the game as well, leading Minot State in scoring at 10.9 points per game, is tied for the team lead in assists at 42 and is tied for second on the team in made 3-pointers at 22.

CONTROLLING THE BOARDS: Minot State was outrebounded on the weekend for the first time all season but still carries a plus-1.2 rebounding margin. MSU has 576 rebounds compared to 557 for its opponents. Kristal Flowers continues to lead the way with a 6.6 average, while Diondra Denton and Haley HIldenbrand are second and third respectively at 4.8 and 4.4 per game.

BY THE NUMBERS

11: Rank in the NSIC for senior Kori Eurich on 3-point percentage. Eurich leads the team knocking down 25 of 62 for a 40.3 average.
 
30: Steals for sophomore Kari Clements to lead the team with a 1.9 per-game average. She is ninth in the Northern Sun overall.

114: Three-pointers made for Minot State this season. The Beavers are seventh in the league at 7.1 makes per game.