Huskies ring in New Year against Minnesota-Duluth

ST. CLOUD, MINN. - The St. Cloud State University women's basketball team is back and ready for action. After a brief hiatus, the (RV) Huskies return to action on Sunday, January 2, as they host rival Minnesota-Duluth at 4:00 p.m. in Halenbeck Hall.

As expected, St. Cloud State and Minnesota-Duluth are the top two teams in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) North Division, as the Huskies and Bulldogs sit atop the division standings with matching 6-1 records in conference play. In fact, Minnesota-Duluth's lone conference loss this season has come at the hands of St. Cloud State, as the Huskies upended the then #18 Bulldogs 60-54 in Duluth, Minnesota. This weekend, St. Cloud State will look to gain complete control of the NSIC North Division with its first sweep of Minnesota-Duluth since the 2017-18 season.

Tip off on Sunday is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. at Halenbeck Hall in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Live stats and video will be available through the Huskies website at SCSU Athletics App, while a radio broadcast will air on the Varsity Network App. Score updates will be made to the team's official Twitter account (@SCSUHUSKIES_WBB) through the game as well.

Here are the five things to know before the two rivals tip off on Sunday:

.500 - St. Cloud State and Minnesota-Duluth have faced off 40 times since December 1997, with each team winning 20 games a piece. The Huskies are 10-6 in that time span when hosting the Bulldogs at home but are just 3-7 in the last 10 meetings. In the last five meetings, though, St. Cloud State holds a 3-2 advantage, which includes the Huskies NSIC / Sanford Health Championship win back in 2019-20.

52.4/55.0 - Defense is the name of the game for both St. Cloud State and the Bulldogs. The two teams possess the top scoring defenses in the NSIC this season, as they are holding opponents to under 55.0 points a game in conference play this season. In seven conference games, the Huskies have held their opponents to an average of 52.4 points per game and have allowed only one NSIC team to score over 60 this season. On the flip side, Minnesota-Duluth is particularly stingy, as the Bulldogs are holding conference opponents to an average of 55.0 points per game entering Sunday's contest.

94 - If the first meeting of the season is any indicator, there won't be a ton of scoring in Halenbeck Hall Saturday afternoon. St. Cloud State and Minnesota-Duluth scored a combined 94 points in the first meeting of 2021-22, with the Huskies winning by a final score of 60-54. In fact, the Bulldogs outshot St. Cloud State on the scoresheet, as they went 21-47 (.447) from the floor and 7-18 (.389) from beyond the arc compared to the Huskies 20-58 (.345) and 5-20 (.250) line. However, Minnesota-Duluth could not stop Nikki Kilboten (Eau Claire, Wis. / Eau Claire North). The fifth year senior scored a season high 24 points in the victory and tallied a double-double with 12 rebounds and two blocks.

18.5 - The key to St. Cloud State's success on Sunday will be stopping Bulldog senior Brooke Olson. The reigning NSIC Player of the Year is currently averaging 18.5 points per game against NSIC opponents, a number which ranks second in the conference entering the 2022 calendar year. Her .529 shooting percentage additionally ranks top-5 in the NSIC this season and she leads the conference in free throw shooting percentage with a near perfect .903 mark. However, Olson is the only Minnesota-Duluth player averaging double-digit points this season, as the second highest scorer is averaging 8.9 points for the Bulldogs in 2021-22.

3 - On the flip side, the Huskies have put together a well-balanced scoring attack, with three players averaging double-digit points in 2021-22. Leading the way is fifth year senior Tori Wortz (Hutchinson, Minn. / Hutchinson) who is averaging 13.0 points through 10 games this season. Brehna Evans (De Pere, Wis. / West De Pere) is once again a scoring machine for St. Cloud State, averaging 11.9 points per game in 2021-22, while Kilboten is averaging 11.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game this season.