Women’s Basketball Starts NSIC Play This Weekend On the Road

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The St. Cloud State women's basketball team (3-1) starts Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play this weekend with trips to Minnesota Crookston (0-4) and Bemidji State (1-3). SCSU will take on UMC on Friday, Dec. 1, at 6 p.m. at Lysaker Gymnasium and BSU on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 4 p.m. at the Physical Education Complex.

Scouting Minnesota Crookston

The Golden Eagles have started the season with four straight losses after dropping both games over the weekend in Miami Shores, Fla. to Palm Beach Atlantic (69-66) and Barry University (71-61).
The program has been led this season by Isieoma Odor, who is averaging 14.8 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.
Odor is also shooting 46 percent from the field and 75 percent from the free throw line.
She is second on the team in blocks with four and tied for the team lead with her four steals.
Micaela Noga is also averaging in double figures at 12.5 points per game.
Caitlin Michaelis sports an average of 9.5 points per game.
Emily Gruber is averaging 8.5 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per contest.
Gruber also leads the team with her six blocks and is tied for the team lead with four steals.
Minnesota Crookston is averaging 58.5 points per game this season, while shooting 39 percent from the field, 23 percent from three-point range and 75 percent from the line.
The team is coached by Mike Roysland, who is in his 11th year in charge of the program.
The program, who are predicted to finish 13th in the league this season, are coming off a 8-20 season with a mark of 7-15 in NSIC play last season.
Roysland is attempting to become the first coach in school history to get to 100 wins at the Division II level and has 97 career victories.

Scouting Bemidji State

Bemidji State have lost three of the team's first four games this season.
The program lost a pair of games over the weekend in Denver to Metro State (71-51) and Colorado College (72-68).
The program's win on the season came over Mayville State by 63-62 score.
The Beavers will play against Minnesota Duluth on Friday night before welcoming SCSU for Saturday evening.
Brooklyn Bachmann is the team's leading scorer at 14 points per game
She also leads the team in rebounding with 20 (5.0 per game) and steals with seven.
Sierra Senske is also averaging in double figure sat 13.3 points per game.
The team is averaging 64.5 points per game, while shooting 28 percent from three-point range and 68 percent from the foul line.
Chelsea DeVilla is in her third season running the program.
She went 7-20 last season and had a mark of 4-18 in the NSIC

Prior Meetings

The Huskies are 7-27 all-time against Minnesota Crookston.
The schools split the contests last season with each school successfully able to defend its home court.
In SCSU's 75-62 victory over the Golden Eagles last season (12/2/16), Betsy MacDonald led the team with 15 points.
In the 78-76 loss to the Golden Eagles on the road (1/7/17), Amanda Christianson scored 26 points.
SCSU is 40-15 all-time against Bemidji State including a sweep of the two games last season.
The first game against BSU saw SCSU prevail in double overtime (12/3/16) by a 111-107 scored.
MacDonald became just the second player in school history with more than 40 points in a game as she scored 42 points.
Chelsea Nooker recorded a double-double with 28 points and 10 rebounds.
The 65-59 road victory over Bemidji State (1/6/17) saw Christianson lead the way with 18 points.
Emily Pratt pulled down 10 rebounds in the contest.

Listen to The Game

The game will be aired live on Granite City Sports (1390 AM) with J.W. Cox on the call. All SCSU games can also be heard online at www.1390granitecitysports.com

The majority of the SCSU games can also be heard on the KVSC Sports Stream

Live Stats Anyone?
Live stats will be run for both the games on Friday against Minnesota Crookston - live stats and against Bemidji State – live stats -on Saturday

Watch The Games
Fans around the world can watch the games online through Stretch Internet's SCSU Portal.

Listen To/Attend The Above the Rim Basketball Coaches Show
The Above the Rim Basketball Coaches Show with weekly guests head women's basketball coach Lori Fish and head men's basketball coach Matt Reimer is held at 7 p.m. every Monday during the basketball season at the Green Mill in downtown St. Cloud. Fans are invited to come out and listen to the show live at the Green Mill and enjoy some great menu discounts available during the show every Monday. The show is hosted by J.W. Cox and airs on Granite City Sports 1390 AM. The show can be heard online at this link

Read This Week's Game Notes
A complete collection of interesting game notes, stats, rosters and records is available weekly in SCSU Basketball Notes Package.

Notables

St. Cloud State played on the road for the first time this season and split the two games at the Parrish Hotels Thanksgiving Classic in Topeka, Kansas.
The program started the tournament with a loss to the host school Washburn University by a 58-55 score.
Redshirt junior Mallie Doucette led the team with her 16 points
Senior Andrea Thomas scored 15 points, while fellow senior Amanda Christianson also reached double figures with 12.
The game was the first time that SCSU has faced off with the Icabods.
The program defeated Newman University on the second day by a 72-62 score on Saturday, Nov. 25.
Christianson led the charge with her 24 points, while shooting 69.2 percent from the field (9-for-13) and also hitting 66 percent (4-for-6) of her threes.
She also had five rebounds and a pair of steals.
Thomas reached double figures as well with 13 points plus a team leading four assists.
Freshman Tori Wortz recorded 11 points plus two steals off the bench.
Sophomore Jocelyn Johnson led the team with her seven rebounds.
Freshman Nikki Kilboten totaled three blocks in the contest
On the week, Christianson averaged 18 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
She also shot 59.1 percent from the field (13-for-22) and 54.5 percent from three-point range (6-for-11).
Her two double figure performances were her first two of the season.
Christianson's 24 points was the most she has scored in a game since getting 26 points against Minnesota Crookston last season.
Thomas also averaged in double figures on the week at 14 points per game.
She and Wortz have scored in double figures in three of the four games.
The program is 3-0 this season when Wortz reached double figures.
Thomas ranks highly in the NSIC in numerous categories following the third week of the season as she is second in steals per game (3.00), third in steals (12), eighth in assists per game (3.5) and 10th in assist to turnover ratio (1.75).
She is also the team's leading scorer at 12.8 points per game.
Wortz is third in the league in steals per game (2.25).
She is second on the team with her average of 11.8 points per game.
Christianson is the top three-point shooter in the conference (57.1 percent) and is placed seventh in three per game (2.00).
She leads the team with her eight made threes and ranks third on the team at 11 points per game.
Half of Christianson's 16 made shots this season have been threes.
Kilboten is 11thh in the conference with her average of a block a game.
The team has used the seam starting five players the entire season (Thomas, Christianson, Doucette, sophomore Madelin Dammann and redshirt sophomore Brianna Johnson.
The team's rotation has also been deep with 10 players having seen action in all four games (Thomas, Wortz, Christianson, Doucette, Dammann, Kilboten, B. Johnson, J. Johnson, Mackenzie Korf and Mackenzie Uter).
The Huskies also rank in the top half of the conference in assist/turnover ratio (1.14 – 7th), assists (64 – 7th), assists per game (16.0 – 5th), blocked shots (15 – 6th), blocked shots per game (3.8 – 7th), defensive rebounds per game (27 -8th), fewest turnovers (56 – 6th), field goal percentage (44.6 – 3rd), field goal defense (32.9 – 3rd), rebounding margin (5.3 – 3rd), scoring defense (48.5 – 1st), scoring margin (23.3 – 1st), steals (49 – 3rd), steals per game (12.3 – 2nd), three-point field goal defense (17.2 – 1st), three-point field goals made (17.0 – 8th) three-point field goals per game (8.3 – 4th), three-point field goal percentage (39.3 – 3rd), turnover margin (5.75 – 3rd), turnovers forced per game (19.75 – 2nd) and turnovers per game (14.0 – 7th)
The program also enters the week as the second-best three-point defensive team nationally and seventh in the country in scoring defense

Up Next

The Huskies return home to host Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State next weekend.
The program takes on the Cougars on Friday, Dec. 8, at 6 p.m.
The team is 2-7 all-time against Sioux Falls since the programs started meeting in 2011.
St. Cloud State lost twice on the road to Sioux Falls last season.
The program fell 74-51 (12/9/16) during the regular season and 65-51 (2/22/17) in the first round of the NSIC / Sanford Health Tournament.
In the first contest against USF last season, Chelsea Nooker had 13 points and seven rebounds.
Brianna Johnson was able to record a career-high 13 rebounds.
The second contest against USF again saw Nooker leading the charge with her 17 points.
Johnson again had a strong performance with nine points and eight rebounds.
Six of John's eight rebounds came on the offensive glass.
SCSU leads the all-time series with SMSU by a 27-16 margin including a 90-77 victory over the Mustangs on the road last season (12/10/16).
The programs have been competing against each since 1970.
In last year's game against the Mustangs, the program has three players score 20 or more points.
Mallie Doucette and Nooker both scored 22 points with Betsy MacDonald chipping in with 20.
Nooker also had 10 rebounds and it was one of two double-doubles that she had a season ago.
The 22 points scored by Doucette were her career-high.

Located in Central Minnesota along the oak-crowned west bank of the Mississippi River in the city of St. Cloud, Minn., St. Cloud State University sponsors 19 varsity intercollegiate athletic programs. The Huskies compete at the NCAA Division I level in men's hockey (National Collegiate Hockey Conference) and women's hockey (Western Collegiate Hockey Association), while its NCAA Division II programs hold membership in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and the University's nordic ski team competes in the Central Collegiate Ski Association.

To learn more about the academic opportunities available at St. Cloud State University, please visit stcloudstate.edu