St. Cloud State Women's Basketball Readies for NSIC Tournament Quarterfinal

ST. CLOUD, Minn. - The St. Cloud State women's basketball team is gearing up to begin their NSIC Tournament appearance at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Huskies earned a bye to the quarterfinals thanks to their number two seed in the north division. On Sunday, Feb. 26 St. Cloud will take on Southwest Minnesota State for the NSIC Tournament Quarterfinal matchup.

Tournament Coverage
Sunday's game is set for a 1:30 p.m. tip-off at the Pentagon. The NSIC Network will provide the game stream while Steve Linzmeier, the Voice of Huskies Basketball, will provide live audio coverage on the Varsity Network App. Live stats will be provided here. Information on the NSIC tournament such as tickets, teams, and brackets can be found here.

A Look Back
The Huskies closed their regular season 17-9 overall, 14-8 in conference play. In their last two games of the regular season, St. Cloud split with Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston. Against BSU, the Huskies opened up the game leading 20-14 over Bemidji State after the first ten minutes. In the second, BSU went on a 7-0 run to go on top 26-25. At half, it would be tied at 33 as the Beavers outscored St. Cloud 19-13 in the second half. During the third, St. Cloud would lead 51-42 until BSU stalled SCSU on a 10-2 run with the period ending 53-52 St. Cloud. In the fourth, Bemidji State jumped ahead 64-62 with just over two to play. The period would end tied at 67 to send the game into overtime. In the extra five, SCSU only jumped ahead once as BSU pulled ahead for the Huskies to fall 81-77.

Against Minnesota Crookston, St. Cloud struggled offensively in the first two periods as Minnesota Crookston outscored SCSU 14-10 and 19-13. SCSU went into the locker room down 33-23. The third period was another story as the Huskies opened with a 10-0 run to cut the score to 35-33. St. Cloud jumped back on top 45-44 to end the third. In the fourth, the Huskies held off the Golden Eagles as the clock ticked down for SCSU to come away with a 68-58 victory.

NSIC All-Conference Teams
The NSIC announced Thursday that fifth-year senior forward Katrina Theis and freshman guard Jada Eggebrecht were named to the NSIC All-Conference teams. Theis was named to the All-NSIC First Team while Eggebrecht was named to the All-NSIC Second Team. Theis earns the honor for the first time in her career as she is averaging 16.2 points per game with a .547 shooting percentage while also averaging 7.8 rebounds. She has held spots in the conference rankings for scoring, field goal percentage, rebounding, and blocked shots. Additionally, Theis has earned NSIC weekly honors three times this season. Eggebrecht is the first freshman to receive All-NSIC Second Team honors as she is averaging 14.2 points per game with 2.4 rebounds. The freshman put up a career high 31 points against Bemidji State on Feb. 16, 2023.

St. Cloud State and the NSIC Tournament
Since 2013, St. Cloud State has made ten consecutive appearances in the NSIC Tournament with their 11th coming this weekend. During the 2019-20 season, the Huskies defeated Minnesota Duluth 71-62 for the tournament title, their first tournament championship since the 2008-09 season. From 2020-22, St. Cloud has appeared in three consecutive NSIC Tournament championship games. SCSU holds an overall record of 15-10 in the tournament.

St. Cloud State Huskies
The Huskies closed the regular season 17-9 overall, 14-8 in conference play. St. Cloud finished in the number two seed in the north earning them a bye to the quarterfinal game in the NSIC Tournament.

St. Cloud has the number two scoring defense in the conference surrendering just 57.6 points to opponents. Fifth-year senior forward Katrina Theis and freshman Jada Eggebrecht are the Huskies leading front. Theis is averaging 16.2 points while Eggebrecht averages 14.2 points per game. Tori Peschel is the team's leader in the rebounding department with 223 total rebounds this season averaging 8.6 per game. Additionally, Peschel is 2nd in the NSIC for rebounding and has the best assist/turnover ratio in the conference with a 2.6.

St. Cloud State and Southwest Minnesota State will meet for the 58th time in program history since 1969. The Huskies and the Mustangs met earlier in the season back on Jan. 20 where St. Cloud came away with a 70-59 overtime victory. The last time the two met in the NSIC tournament was in 2013 where SCSU defeated SMSU 72-47.

Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs
Southwest MN State ended their regular season 17-10 overall, 14-8 in conference play. The Mustangs move onto the quarterfinal to face the Huskies after defeating Minnesota Crookston 83-66 in the first round of the tournament.

SMSU is led by sophomore guard Bri Stoltzman who is averaging 13.5 points per game and 7.0 rebounds. Stoltzman has 72 assists and 53 steals on the season. Junior guard Sam Wall is averaging 13.4 points per game with 2.4 rebounds. Additionally, Stoltzman and Wall were named to the All-NSIC second team. Southwest MN State has the third best scoring offense in the league averaging 73.9 points per game while their defense surrenders 67.4 points to opponents.

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 Readies for NSIC Tournament Quarterfinal

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Players Mentioned

Jada Eggebrecht

Tori Peschel

Katrina Theis

Saint Cloud State University Athletics