MINOT, N.D. – They've spent most of November on the road – in Colorado, in Montana, in South Dakota – now the Minot State women's basketball team finally gets to play in the MSU Dome.
The Beavers (3-2 overall) make their home debut in their final tune-up for NSIC action when they host in-state rival Dickinson State on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
The 93
rd meeting between the teams comes 50 years after the series began back in 1972, and Minot State holds a 59-33 edge in the head-to-head series.
That includes three straight wins for Minot State, which last – officially – played the Blue Hawks (4-6) back in January of 2019. The teams did match-up in an exhibition last fall with Minot State winning 63-56 in Dickinson.
The Beavers come in having battled their way back to a 62-58 win at the South Dakota School of Mines one week earlier, snapping a two-game skid.
Point guard
Kate Head has been key in leading the offense, both in scoring and passing, as she leads the team averaging 16.4 points and 3.8 assists per game.
Six-foot-4 true freshman Emily Srejma also is making an impact in her debut season averaging 8.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game, while junior returner
Natasha Elliott, a 5-11 forward, leads the way on the glass at 6.8 rebounds per night and is adding 5.8 points per game.
They match up against a Blue Hawks team who will play Tuesday's game as an exhibition, and comes in having dropped its last two, back-to-back losses to Rocky Mountain College from Montana.
Leading the way for the Blue Hawks will be a familiar face in Samantha Oase, a 6-0 sophomore forward who transferred from Black Hill State after playing her freshman season with the Yellow Jackets. Black Hills State split two games at Minot State last year in November.
Oase averaged 4 points and 2.5 rebounds in her two previous meetings with the Beavers, but this season for Dickinson State she's doing much more as she leads the team with almost a double-double, averaging 11.6 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.
Tuesday's contest serves as the final non-conference tune-up for the Beavers who head to Minnesota to take on Minnesota State Moorhead on Thursday, then return to the MSU Dome on Saturday to host Northern State.
