Women's Basketball Returns Home to Defend Five-Game Winning Streak

The St. Cloud State University women's basketball team (11-4, 8-3 NSIC) returns to Halenbeck Hall this weekend to take on the Wolves of Northern State on Friday, Jan. 19 at 6 PM and the Dragons of MSU Moorhead on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 4 PM.

This weekend is also the sixth annual "It's A Slam Dunk, Don't Drive Drunk" campaign where NSIC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) members will be collecting signatures from fans pledging not to drive drunk. Pledge stickers, pens, tattoos and bag tags will be handed out to fans that pledge to join in this initiative. Over the past five years, NSIC SAAC members have collected over 50,000 signatures from fans pledging not to drive drunk. The NSIC encourages fans to support this effort and to always drive responsibly.

Scouting Northern State:

The Wolves five-game winning streak was snapped by Augustana last friday, where they lost by 13 points. NSU won a non-conference match-up against Presentation College (SD) on Monday night by 40 points (94-54).
Northern State is lead offensively by Miranda Ristau, who averages 18.3 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per game.
Ristau is also the NSIC's second leading scorer. (18.3 points per game in NSIC-play)
Jill Conrad is the Wolves' biggest three-point threat, shooting 39.4% (13-33) on the year.
Northern State is in the top-three of scoring offenses in the NSIC. (74.6 points per game).
Defensively, Miranda Ristau has recorded the most blocked shots in conference-play this season. (42)

Scouting MSU Moorhead:

The Dragons are looking to defend their seven-game winning streak this weekend after defeating Augustana on Friday night and Wayne State in overtime on Saturday night.
Moorhead also ranks among the top five in scoring offense, averaging 71.9 points per game.
Jacky Volkert is the Dragons' leading scorer, with 14.3 points per game.
Volkert is also leading the NSIC in average minutes per game (35.9), overall assists (93) and average assists, (5.8 per game).
The Dragons have three shooters averaging 40% or better from three-point range. (Kourtney Selensky, 41.2%; Lauren Fech and Brooklyn Liegel, 40%.
Moorhead is averaging just under eight three-point field goals made per game. (3rd in the NSIC)

Series History

SCSU is 5-13 all-time against Northern State since the start of the series in 1995.
The Huskies fell to Northern State twice last season.
The team lost 78-58 to NSU on the road in the first game of the series last season (1/20/17).
Amanda Christianson led the team with her 16 points.
Andrea Thomas had nine points and seven rebounds
Betsy MacDonald totaled nine points and two assists.
The program lost to the Wolves by a 64-46 score in the home season finale (2/18/17).
MacDonald led the team with her 15 points.
Chelsea Nooker had nine points
Brianna Johnson totaled five rebounds plus a steal.
The Huskies are 32-23 all-time against MSU Moorhead since the series began in 1972.
The team lost to the Dragons by a 95-69 score on the road in the first game of last year's series (1/21/17).
MacDonald had 14 points.
Christianson totaled 13 points
Johnson had six points and five rebounds.
The team lost to MSU Moorhead by a 81-77 score at home in overtime (2/17/17).
The team led by seven heading to the fourth quarter but were unable to hold off the Dragons.
Nooker had 25 points, eight rebounds and two steals.
MacDonald scored 23 points with six assists.
Johnson totaled her first career double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds

Last Time Out:

St. Cloud State defeated Upper Iowa 69-47 last Friday and Winona State by a score of 62-55 last Saturday.
Saturday's win against the Warriors extended the Huskies' winning streak to five.
Madelin Dammann led the Huskies with 18 points and three rebounds in last Friday's win against the Peacocks.
Mallie Doucette scored 29 points off of the bench this weekend, with 18 of those points coming in Saturday's victory against Winona State.
Doucette shot 50 percent from the field and from three-point range on Saturday night.
Tori Wortz recorded three steals in each of the games last weekend.

Notables:

The Huskies are 6-1 in home games this season and averaging 74.5 points in those games, while surrendering just 52.2 points a contest.
The program has won seven of the last eight games entering this weekend
The program is 11-2 this season when scoring 56 or more points.
Thomas ranks third overall in the NSIC in steals per game (1.9).
She ranks highly in the NSIC in several categories and is placed fourth in steals (29) and 8th in free throw attempts (62), 7th in free throws made (46) and 17th in free throw percentage (74.2%)
She is also the team's leader in numerous categories as she leads the team in minutes played (435), scoring (195 points/13.0 points per game), assists (35) and steals (29)
Wortz is second on the team in scoring (11.6) and steals (21), while shooting 46.2 percent from the field (52-for-116) and 40.9 percent from three-point range (18-44).
Wortz is third on the team in minutes played (322 or 24.8 per contest) despite starting only half the games.
Mallie Doucette is the team's third leading scorer, averaging 9.1 points per game.
Madelin Dammann is averaging 8.9 points per game.
Mallie Doucette is leading the team in free throw percentage, shooting 81.5% from the line.

Live Stats
Live stats will be available for both the games this weekend at http://www.sidearmstats.com/stcloudstate/wbball/

Live Video:
Live video will be available for the games this weekend at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/scsu/

Live Rado Broadcasts:
Radio broadcasts are available this weekend through Granite City Sports (1390 AM) with J.W. Cox on the call. Fans can listen here: http://1390granitecitysports.com/listen-live/popup/.
The majority of SCSU women's games can also be heard on the KVSC Sports Stream. Fans can listen here: http://www.kvsc.org/sports_stream.php

Weekend Game Notes:
To learn more about the Huskies' match-up against the Wolves and the Dragons this weekend, check out this week's Game Notes.

Up Next:
St. Cloud State will hit the road next weekend to take on Wayne State in Wayne, Nebraska on Friday night at 6 PM and Augustana in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on Saturday night at 4 PM.