Women's basketball hosts top two team in NSIC South

ST. CLOUD, MINN. - The St. Cloud State University women's basketball schedule isn't getting any easier. After upending Minnesota-Duluth for the second time this season, the Huskies will host the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) South Division's top two teams, Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State, this upcoming Friday and Saturday.

The Huskies, Golden Bears and Mavericks all share identical conference records of 7-1 entering the upcoming weekend and rank at the top of their respective divisions. St. Cloud State's lone NSIC loss of 2021-22 came at the hands of MSU-Moorhead, as poor shooting resulted in a 51-39 loss for the Huskies. Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State have only lost to each other. The Mavericks defeated the Golden Bears 84-74 to open the conference season before Concordia-St. Paul defeated Minnesota State 85-83 this past weekend.

As a result of COVID-19 cancellations within the men's program, the St. Cloud State will now host the Golden Bears at 6:00 p.m. on Friday before taking on the Mavericks at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Live stats and video will be available for both games, as will two live radio broadcasts on the KVSC Sports Stream and the Varsity Network App. Additionally, score updates will be made to the team's Twitter page (@SCSUHUSKIES_WBB).

Here are the five things to know before this weekend's series:

(RV) - Both the Huskies and Mavericks received votes in the latest Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division II poll and just missed cracking the top-25. After dropping a game to Concordia-St. Paul last weekend, Minnesota State fell from #21 to (RV), having received 28 votes this past week. St. Cloud State received 14 votes after its 71-67 win over Minnesota-Duluth.

84.4/73.7 - This weekend will feature two of the top offenses in the conference in the Mavericks and Golden Bears. Minnesota State averages a whopping 84.4 points per game entering the weekend, having scored a conference leading 1013 points in 12 games. Concordia-St. Paul is no slouch on the offensive side of the game either. The Golden Bears rank third in the conference, averaging 73.7 points per game through 12 contests this season.

53.3 - The Huskies, meanwhile, boast the best defense in the conference, though that's not really new news. St. Cloud State is holding its opponents to 53.3 points per game this season while averaging 62.9 points on offense. The Huskies assists to turnover ratio, however, is something to behold. The team has tallied 160 assists through 11 games in 2021-22 and committed just 133 turnovers for a season ratio of 1.20. That number currently ranks ninth in all of Division II.

2nd - A key part of St. Cloud State's success this season is fifth year forward Nikki Kilboten (Eau Claire, Wis. / Eau Claire North). The Eau Claire, Wisconsin native earned her second NSIC North Division Player of the Week honor on Monday after leading the Huskies to their first regular season sweep of Minnesota-Duluth since the 2017-18 season. Kilboten led the offensive charge against the Bulldogs, scoring 21 points on 8-15 shooting with nine rebounds, one block and one steal during the victory. It marks her third 20+ point performance already this season and Kilboten's second against Minnesota-Duluth.

44 - Kilboten and the rest of St. Cloud State's offense will need to find a way around Lindsey Becher, who not only leads the Golden Bears in blocks, but the NSIC and the nation as well. Becher has tallied 44 blocks in 12 contests this season to average 3.67 blocks per game. Becher also leads Concordia-St. Paul in field goal attempts, field goals made and field goal percentage.

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Players Mentioned

Nikki Kilboten

Saint Cloud State University Athletics