St. Cloud State Women's Basketball Hits the Road to Face No. 5 Minnesota State & CSP

Friday, January 6

Mankato, Minn.

5:30 P.M.

St. Cloud State

No. 5 Minnesota State Mankato

Photo by: Kaitlyn Zuehl

St. Cloud State Women's Basketball Hits the Road to Face No. 5 Minnesota State & CSP

1/5/2023 1:28:00 PM | Women's Basketball

NSIC Network Varsity Network App Live Stats - MSU Mankato Live Stats - CSP

Huskies open up play with NSIC South Division teams

ST. CLOUD, Minn. - The St. Cloud State women's basketball team will hit the road for two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) South Division matchups. The Huskies will take on the No. 5 Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks and Concordia St. Paul Golden Bears on Jan. 6 and Jan. 7.

Friday's game against the No. 5 Mavericks will tip off at 5:30 p.m. at the Taylor Center in Mankato, MN while Saturday's game is set for 3:30 p.m. at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, MN. The NSIC Network will provide the game streams while Steve Linzmeier, the Voice of Huskies Basketball, will provide audio on the Varsity Network app. Live stats will be available on the home institution's women's basketball schedule page.

A Look Back
The Huskies opened up the new year with a weekend sweep over conference opponents MSU Moorhead and Northern State. St. Cloud opened the weekend with MSU Moorhead where each team brought momentum right out of the gate with six lead changes in the first period. During the second period, the Huskies struggled against the Dragons defense only scoring nine points and went into the locker room at half down 41-34. In the third period, the momentum shifted back to the Huskies where St. Cloud outscored MSU Moorhead 20-7 holding the Dragons to a .20 shooting percentage. In the final period of play, the Huskies extended the lead into the double-digits where they won by an 18 point margin for a final score of 80-62.

Against Northern State, the Huskies opened the game with a 12-5 run and continued their offensive attack. St. Cloud outscored the Wolves 18-8 in the final five and half minutes of the second period to close out the half up 32-27. In the second half of the game, the Huskies increased their lead into the double-digits leading by 29 points with just over three minutes left in regulation. The ended the day with a 74-53 victory over Northern State.

Theis' Zone
Fifth year senior forward Katrina Theis has been a standout player for the Huskies this season so far. Theis earned her second NSIC North Division Player of the Week honors (1/3/23) for her performances over MSU Moorhead and Northern State. Last weekend, Theis averaged 19.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists. The fifth-year senior scored a total of 39 points, leading the Huskies in scoring with 27 against MSU Moorhead on 11-16 from the field. Additionally, she tallied seven rebounds, four steals, and two assists against the Dragons. Against Northern State, she scored 12 points with a 4-7 mark from the field and 100% from the foul line with six rebounds, four assists, one block, and one steal. This is her second NSIC honor of the season as she was named NSIC North Division Player of the Week back on Dec. 5.

Theis is St. Cloud's leading scorer for the Huskies. She is averaging 15.2 points per game and 8.0 rebounds. Theis is shooting a .581 field goal percentage, .400 from the three-point line, and .611 from the foul line. Additionally, Theis is holding several spots in the NSIC leaderboards. She currently ranks 1st for field goal percentage (.581), 4th for rebounding (8.0 rpg), and 9th for scoring (15.2 ppg).

St. Cloud State Huskies
The Huskies are currently 9-3 overall, 6-2 in NSIC play heading into the weekend. St. Cloud currently sits 2nd in the NSIC North Division and 4th overall. The Huskies have the second-best scoring defense in the NSIC surrendering 56.4 points to opponents.

Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks
No. 5 Minnesota State has an 11-1 overall, 7-1 NSIC play record and sits 1st in the NSIC South Division and 2nd overall. The Mavericks only loss came from Southwest Minnesota State (Dec. 17). No. 5 Minnesota State currently has the 4th overall, 1st NSIC scoring offense averaging 85.9 points per game. The Mavericks junior guard Joey Batt is leading the numbers for Minnesota State. Batt is averaging 17.6 points per game, 3.4 rebounds per game, 47 assists, and a .500 field goal percentage.

The Huskies and the Mavericks have met for a total of 108 times with St. Cloud holding an 65-43 advantage in the series. The last meeting between the two times was last season on Jan. 8 2022 where the Huskies came out on top 66-52 over the Mavericks at Halenbeck Hall.

Concordia St. Paul Golden Bears
Concordia St. Paul sits at 7-5 overall, 4-4 in NSIC play. CSP is sitting 5th in the NSIC South Division and 9th overall in the conference. The Golden Bears have conference wins against south division opponents Upper Iowa, Winona State, Southwest Minnesota State, and Sioux Falls while they have lost to Wayne State, Augustana, and Minnesota State Mankato twice. CSP is led by junior guard Ally Gietzel who is averaging 12.1 points per game and 7.0 rebounds per game. Sophomore center Lindsey Becher is currently leading the NSIC in blocked shots averaging 2.6 per game.

St. Cloud State and Concordia St. Paul have met for a total of 37 times where the Huskies hold a 20-17 series lead. The last meeting between the two teams was during the semifinals of the 2021-22 NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament where St. Cloud took down the Golden Bears 78-49 to move on to the championship round of the tournament.

Single game tickets for the season are now on sale at scsutickets.com. For all the latest on St. Cloud State women's basketball, stay tuned on scsuhuskies.com and follow the teams on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.