THIS WEEK: Minot State takes to the road for a key weekend matchup with Minnesota Duluth (Friday, 6 p.m.) and St. Cloud State (Saturday, 4 p.m.) as MSU leads UMD by a game and trails SCSU by three in the NSIC North Division standings.

RECORDS: MSU is 8-10 overall and is currently in fifth place in the NSIC North Division standings. UMD is a game back of the Beavers as they have all four of their wins in conference play (4-11, 4-8). SCSU comes into the weekend with an 8-4 NSIC record and is 9-7 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 354-249 overall record. Green Gerding is the Beavers all-time wins leader and has all 354 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. UMD's Mandy Person is in her first season with the Bulldogs after a successful stint with Saint Mary's, going 42-13 in her final two seasons. She has a 124-127 overall record in her head coaching career. During her playing days, she became the first Concordia-Moorhead player to score 1,000 career points and reach 500 career assists. SCSU's head coach is Lori Fish, who is in her eighth season with the Huskies and her 12th season overall as a collegiate coach. She is 179-145 overall. She starred for then-NCAA Division II powerhouse South Dakota State, earning first team all-conference honors.

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 held off Upper Iowa for a thrilling 71-69 double overtime win Friday, but ran out of gas as No. 12 Winona State rolled to a 98-57 win Saturday. The Beavers had four in double figures paced by Sarah Lester (Sr., G, Frenchtown, Mont.) and Kari Clements (RFr., G, Trevor, Wis.), while Savana Kingsbury (Sr., F, Omaha, Neb.) earned a double-double with 11 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Against Winona, MSU had just a single player in double figures as Alex Haley (Jr., G, Libertyville, Ill.) hit for 10 in the loss.

ALL-TIME AT A GLANCE: The Beavers have battled both teams in their relatively short time in the NSIC, taking a 4-3 series win over UMD with a 77-56 at UMD to end the regular season last year. MSU trails SCSU, however, 6-1 in the all-time series, but all but two since joining the NSIC have been tight games.

LAST TIME OUT: Minot State split a pair of road games at St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth to end the 2015-16 regular season. MSU fell 66-65 at St. Cloud State as Betsy McDonald's layup with 41 seconds to play proved to be the game winner. MSU had multiple cracks at its own game winner but couldn't get one to drop. Alex Haley (Jr., G, Libertyville, Ill.) paced Minot State with 17 points, while Chelsea Nooker scored 20 points to lead SCSU. MSU took its frustrations from a close loss out on UMD Saturday, blowing out the Bulldogs 77-56 on senior high in Duluth. Haley scored 20 points, Christina Boag added 13 and Amanda Sansaver (Sr., G, Wolf Point, Mont.) and Sarah Lester (Sr., G, Frenchtown, Mont.) scored 12 points apiece in the win. Sansaver had a career-high nine assists in the win. Jessica Newman scored 20 points in the loss for UMD.

NOTING THE BULLDOGS: Minnesota Duluth has lost three straight games coming into the weekend and is just 2-7 since a three overtime win over Bemidji State Dec. 5… Allyson Harris, the team's leading scorer at 13.6, has led the team in scoring in 10 of their 16 games including the past four… Kenzie Kane has been stellar at the free throw line, hitting 36 of 40 for a 90 percent mark. She and Taylor Dillinger, who is hitting 82.5 percent of her free throws, account for 83 of the team's 191 made free throws. UMD is just 108 for 183 (59 percent) outside of the sharpshooting duo… Along with scoring, Harris is tied for the team lead in rebounding with Samantha Kozlowski at 5.8 per game and has 26 of the team's 71 blocks to pace the Bulldogs… Despite playing just 15.1 minutes per game, Ayo Porte leads the team with 26 offensive rebounds… Kozlowski is the team leader in 3-pointers made with 21 on the year.

NOTING THE HUSKIES: St. Cloud State has relied on the 1-2 punch of Betsy MacDonald and Chelsea Nooker much of the season but the duo has been especially tough as of late as one or the other has led SCSU in eight of the last nine games… Nooker leads the team with a 14.1 scoring average, assists (68), steals (37) and blocked shots (24) and is second in rebounds (112)… Through 16 games, SCSU has outscored its opponents by a total of 15 points… A bad third quarter average has made it necessary for the Huskies to be better in the fourth as they are being outscored 292-256 in the third and have a 295-249 advantage in the final quarter… Karissa LeCaptain is third on the team in scoring and leads SCSU in rebounding with a 7.5 per-game average… MacDonald has 59 assists and just 34 turnovers to go with her 11.4 per-game scoring average… Nooker, Lexy Petermann, Karissa LeCaptain and MacDonald have combined to miss just 15 free throws in 121 attempts… SCSU has been one of the top free throw shooting teams, hitting 77.0 percent, but its opponents have fed off that to hit 74.9 percent from the strop, while taking 99 more free throws on the season.

EXTRA SESSION PERFECTION: Minot State is a perfect 3-0 in overtime games this season following a 71-69 double overtime affair with Upper Iowa Friday. The Beavers are 4-0 counting and OT win over the University of Regina in exhibition. Since joining the NSIC, the Beavers have never lost an overtime game, going 4-0 in four years. The Beavers did not play an OT game last year, and topped rival Northern State 75-68 in 2013-14 in its only extra session contest that season.

500-500 CLUB: Minot State senior Savana Kingsbury (F, Omaha, Neb.) had 111 points and 123 rebounds combined in her first two years. During her junior year, she passed both of those numbers in a single season, scoring 184 points and finishing with an impressive 182 rebounds. Through 18 games this year, Kingsbury has already broke her single season point total, coming into the weekend with 201 for an 11.7 average and is just 40 rebounds away from setting a career high in that category as well. She just 1 steal shy of her career high and needs 13 assists to top her former mark. All of this has put her in position to reach 500 points and 500 rebounds in her career, needing just 42 boards to complete the feat.

KING SIZED NUMBERS      

Season	G	Pts.	Rebs.	Asts.	Blks.	Stls.	FG%
2012-13	27	59	78	17	1	9	36.9
2013-14	28	52	55	17	1	2	42.9
2014-15	29	184	182	42	11	23	44.0
2015-16	18	210	143	30	7	22	50.0
Total	102	505	458	107	20	56	45.0

 
3-2-1 AMANDA GO: MSU's Amanda Sansaver (Sr., G, Wolf Point, Mont.) needs three points and five assists to have 300 points, 200 assists and 100 rebounds in her career. She set a personal mark in rebounds already this season with 47 and is on pace to reach her career high of 76 assists set last year. Sansaver is averaging a career-best 4.8 points per game through 18 games as well.

DISTANCE ISSUES: MSU has been respectable from the field this season, coming into the weekend tied for eighth overall with a 40.2 percent mark. The Beavers have struggled from beyond the arc however as Minot State is last in the league in 3-point field goal percentage at just 26.8. MSU's Friday night opponent Minnesota Duluth hasn't been much better on 3s, coming in at 27.1 and 15th in the NSIC, but hasn't been much better from the field in general, shooting just 36.6 from the field, also 15th in the NSIC.

GETTING TO THE LINE: Minot State has been spot on nearly all season from the free throw line and has scored 252 of its 1080 points from the charity stripe. The Beavers are 252-337 good for a NSIC fourth-best 74.8 percent. While one of this weekend's foes, St. Cloud State, has shot better percentage wise (77.0 percent for the Huskies), MSU has scored 95 more points from the stripe. The Beavers are tied for fifth in the league with 252 made free throws.

BY THE NUMBERS

6: Different Beavers who have led MSU in scoring this season. Minot State has had five different players led them in scoring in the past eight games.

7: Players who are hitting 75 percent or better from the free throw line. Madison Wald (Fr., G, Minot, N.D.), Morgan Hunter (Jr., G, Invercargill, New Zealand) and Savana Kingsbury (Sr., F, Omaha, Neb.) have all knocked down 80 percent or better.

12: Kari Clements (RFr., G, Trevor, Wis.) position in the NSIC in steals per game. She is averaging 1.7 overall, swiping 31 balls in 18 games.