St. Cloud State Women's Basketball Hits Road for Second Half of NSIC North Matchups

ST. CLOUD, Minn. - The St. Cloud State women's basketball team will kick off the second half of their NSIC Division matchups this weekend on the road. The Huskies will travel to take on Northern State Feb. 3 and MSU Moorhead Feb. 4.

Friday's game will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. at the Wachs Arena in Aberdeen, SD while Saturday's game is set for 5:30 p.m. at the Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead, MN. The NSIC Network will provide the game streams while Steve Linzmeier, the Voice of Huskies Basketball, will provide live audio coverage on the Varsity Network App. Live stats will be available on the home institutions women's basketball schedule page.

A Look Back
Last weekend the Huskies split their weekend matchups falling to Augustana to break a five-game win streak while they rebounded back against Wayne State. Against Augustana, the opening minutes of play was back and forth as each team took over the lead in the first. St. Cloud would go up 9-6 at the 4:33 mark until a 12-2 run by Augustana put them on top 18-11 over the Huskies to end the first. St. Cloud struggled offensively to put points on the board while Augustana took advantage to outscore SCSU 19-9 in the second period closing the half with the Huskies down by 17 points trailing the Vikings 37-20. During the third period, the Huskies struggled to close in on Augustana's double-digit lead as St. Cloud only brought it within 14 points. Two of SCSU's starters were given their third foul of the game which put a dent on the Huskies. Augustana would close the third period on a 8-0 run to put them up 53-31 over St. Cloud. The Huskies would outscore Augustana 17-13 in the fourth period, but the point deficit was too much to overcome as St. Cloud fell 66-48 to the Vikings.

Against Wayne State, The Huskies opened up the game on a 5-0 run over the Wildcats three minutes in. Wayne State would cut St. Cloud's lead to just one, 12-11, with 2:25 left in the first. St. Cloud then went up by seven until the Wildcats cut the lead to three to end the period 18-15 in favor of the Huskies. During the second period, St. Cloud would go up by six until Wayne State chipped away at the Huskies lead to take over. SCSU struggled to get anything going shooting only a .231 from the field and closed the half down 35-29. Back on the court for the third, Wayne State went on a 6-0 run to up 41-29 over the Huskies. SCSU then went on the offensive to rally back with a six-point run to tie the game at 45 going into the fourth. The game would be tied five more times until Dru Henning hit a three-pointer to put SCSU back on top 62-61 with just over a minute left. Tori Peschel hit a layup with some change to put the Huskies up four and St. Cloud came away with a 65-61 victory.

St. Cloud State Huskies
The Huskies sit 15-5 overall, 12-4 in conference play. In the North Division, SCSU has been holding strong at second place in the North Division and 4th overall in the conference. No. 16 Minnesota Duluth suffered its first conference loss to Augustana on Jan. 28 dropping to 18-3 overall, 15-1 in conference. Despite the loss, UMD still stands strong at the top of the north and the conference standings.

Defense is St. Cloud State's specialty. The Huskies currently have the number two scoring defense in the NSIC. St. Cloud surrenders just 57.0 points to opponents. 5th-year senior forward Katrina Theis and freshman Jada Eggebrecht are the Huskies leading front. Theis is averaging 17.1 points while Eggebrecht averages 12.9 points per game. Additionally, Theis is shooting .554 from the field which is the second-best field goal percentage in the NSIC, 4th in the NSIC for scoring and is averaging 8.1 rebounds per game which places her 5th in the NSIC and has 19 blocks. Tori Peschel is the team's leader in the rebounding department with 165 total rebounds this season averaging 8.3 per game. Additionally, Peschel is 4th in the NSIC for rebounding and has the best assist/turnover ratio in the conference with a 2.4.

Northern State Wolves
Northern State sits 12-10 overall, 7-9 in conference play. NSU is fifth in the north and eighth overall in the NSIC. The Wolves have won three of their last five matchups with them dropping last weekend's matchups with Winona State and Upper Iowa. Northern State is led by redshirt junior forward Kailee Oliverson who is averaging 14.0 points per game with 6.0 rebounds per game. Senior forward Laurie Rogers leads the team in rebounding with 165 on the season averaging 7.5 per game. Additionally, Rogers has 51 blocks which puts her first in the NSIC for blocked shots averaging 2.4 per game.

MSU Moorhead Dragons
MSU Moorhead enters the weekend 10-10 overall, 7-9 in conference play. MSUM is sixth in the north and tenth overall in the NSIC. Last weekend the Dragons split their matchups falling to Upper Iowa while defeating Winona State. Senior center Peyton Bloom leads the Dragons in scoring averaging 15.0 points per game and 8.6 rebounds per game. Additionally, Bloom is leading the conference in field goal percentage at .559, second in rebounding, sixth in blocked shots, and ninth in scoring. Bloom has earned NSIC weekly honors twice this season. Junior guard Mariah McKeever averages 14.9 points per game and 6.8 rebounds for the Dragons.

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.

St. Cloud State Women's Basketball Hits Road for Second Half of NSIC North Matchups

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Players Mentioned

Jada Eggebrecht

Dru Henning

Tori Peschel

Katrina Theis

Saint Cloud State University Athletics