St. Cloud State Women’s Basketball Travel to UMary, Host Minot State

St. Cloud, Minn.- St. Cloud State Women's Basketball (10-11, 7-9 NSIC) travel to UMary on Wednesday, February 5 and then host Minot State on Saturday, February 8 as the season starts to wind down. Wednesday's game is set for 7:30 p.m. while Saturday's game will be played at 3:00 p.m.

Follow the Huskies
Both games will be streamed live for free on the NSIC Network. Live Stats will be provided by UMary on Wednesday and then by St. Cloud State on Saturday. Saturday's game will also be broadcasted on the Varsity Network. Steve Linzmeier, the Voice of St. Cloud State Basketball, can be heard on the audio broadcast for Saturday's game. Tickets to Saturday's game are available at scsutickets.com.

Last Time Out
St. Cloud State had a home and away game this past week as they hosted Bemidji State and then traveled to MSU Moorhead.

The first quarter was tightly contested through the first five minutes as a three-pointer by Jada Eggebrecht set the score at 9-11 with 4:17 left in the opening frame. From that point, the Beavers started to take control as a 7-2 run put them up 18-11. SCSU would fight back to set the score at 18-17 at the end of the quarter as Eggebrecht scored 11 of the Huskies 17 points. A layup by Kylan Gerads would momentarily give the Huskies the lead at the beginning of the second quarter, but a five-minute scoring drought led to an eight-point deficit. The second of three field goals in the quarter was again scored by Gerads, but with 1:17 left until halftime. With 10 seconds left in the half, Paige Lambe finished inside to set the score at 30-24 going into halftime. The Beavers came out of the halftime break on a 7-1 run as they pushed the lead up to 12 points. St. Cloud State made their first field goal of the half at the 6:19 mark. The Huskies chipped away the rest of the quarter as they never let go of the rope. A three-pointer by Rachel Kottke with 21 seconds left in the quarter brought SCSU within seven points as they trailed 47-40 going into the fourth. Most of the fourth quarter saw the Beavers hold a comfortable lead, but St. Cloud State started to make a run with less than two minutes remaining. Alana Zarneke knocked down a pair of free throws to bring SCSU within six points. The Huskies forced a turnover of the defensive end which led to Gerads finishing a layup off an offensive rebound. With their lead down to four points, Bemidji State missed an open layup. Eggebrecht on the other end drilled a three, which would be her 1,000th point in her career. BSU called a timeout as the score was 59-58 with 42 seconds left. With a chance to potentially put the game away, the Beavers missed a three which was collected by Gerads. St. Cloud State called a timeout with 10 seconds left and a chance to now win the game. Out of the timeout, Eggebrecht would drive inside the paint, but missed a contested layup. The Beavers grabbed the rebound with one second left before calling a timeout. With little time remaining and being low on a team foul count, St. Cloud State would ultimately fall 59-58 to the Beavers. Jada Eggebrecht finished with 26 points on an uber efficient 11/16 from the field. She also grabbed four rebounds and made two threes. Eggebrecht also became the 36th Husky in program history to score 1,000 points. She was 24 points away heading into the game and now sits at 1,002 points. By making two threes, Eggebrecht moved into sole possession of ninth place in career three-pointers made with 126. She is two three-pointers from passing Emily VanGorden for eighth place. This was Eggebrecht's second game scoring 26+ points this season. Kylan Gerads nearly notched a double-double as she scored eight points and tied her career-high in rebounds with 12. This was her third game exceeding 10+ rebounds. Five of her 12 rebounds came on the offensive end.

The first four minutes of the game against MSU Moorhead started slow for both teams as the Huskies trailed 6-5 following a layup by Kylan Gerads. A 6-0 run by the Dragons over the next two minutes set the score at 12-5 with 4:33 left in the first quarter. Rachel Kottke halted the momentum for the Dragons as she drilled a slot three. MSUM would lead by multiple possessions for the remainder of the first quarter until Kottke splashed her second three of the quarter with nine seconds left. St. Cloud State would trail 16-13 at the end of the first quarter. A 9-2 run to open the second quarter extended the Dragons lead up to 10 points at the 6:45 mark. Moorhead held a comfortable lead the remainder of the second quarter, but the SCSU started to gain steam late as a 5-0 to end the half set the score at 31-28. The entirety of the third quarter and most of the fourth quarter saw the Dragons keep the Huskies at bay by making big shots to halt any momentum that they had. With 4:29 left in the game and the Dragons leading 60-52, St. Cloud State ramped up their defense to make on final push. A 5-0 run and over a four-minute scoring drought for the Dragons saw their lead dwindle to a single point after Gerads knocked down big free throws. The Huskies would be forced to foul with 12 seconds left. MSUM made both attempts as they held a 62-59 lead as SCSU now had a chance to tie the game with a three. On their final possession of regulation, Rachel Kottke collapsed the defense with a drive and found Paige Lambe in the paint to create a scramble situation. Lambe kicked it out to Jada Eggebrecht on the perimeter who then found a wide open Kottke after she had flared out from her drive. To send it to overtime, Kottke splashed a clutch three with 3.6 seconds left. The Dragons missed a halfcourt three at the buzzer as the game headed to overtime tied at 62. The start of overtime saw the Huskies quickly build a four-point lead after free throws by Gerads and Alana Zarneke. Those free throws would unfortunately be the final points scored by St. Cloud State in overtime as the Dragons went on a 14-0 run over the final 3:57 of the game. SCSU would ultimately be defeated 78-66 in overtime for their fifth straight loss. Rachel Kottke paced the Huskies in scoring with a career-high 18 points on 6/8 shooting. She also made a career-high five three three-pointers to go with five rebounds and three assists. Kylan Gerads scored an efficient 15 points on 5/6 shooting to go with four rebounds, two assists, and five stocks. Her four steals were a career-high. This was Gerads second time scoring 15+ points this season.

Millennium Buckets
Following her 26-point outing against Bemidji State, Jada Eggebrecht became the 36th Husky to score 1,000 career points. After this weekend's game's, Eggebrecht currently sits at 1,010 career points which is the 35th most all-time. Eggebrecht is also ninth all-time in career three-pointers made with 126 and needs two more threes to pass Emily VanGorden for eighth place.
The top 10 in three-point field goals made is as follows:

Tori Wortz 232
Betsy MacDonald 207
Shannon Francis 193
Sam Price 186
Sascha Hansen 185
Madelin Dammann 167
Teri Watkins 164
Emily VanGorden 127
Jada Eggebrecht 126
Jessica Abrahams 124

St. Cloud State Statistical Leaders (total-average)

Points- Jada Eggebrecht (284-13.5)
Rebounds- Kylan Gerads (106-5.0)
Offensive rebounds- Kylan Gerads (48-2.3)
Assists- Alyssa Stamer (59-3.0)
Steals- Alana Zarneke (32-1.5)
Blocks- Paige Lambe (30-1.4)
Stocks- Alana Zarneke (48-2.3)
Field goals made- Jada Eggebrecht (106-5.0)
Three-point field goals made- Alana Zarneke (37-1.8)
Free throw makes- Jada Eggebrecht/Kylan Gerads (36-1.7)
Minutes- Jada Eggebrecht (6664-31.6)

St. Cloud State Team Stats (NSIC Ranking)

66.9 points per game (7^th) | 67.2 points per game allowed (8^th) | -0.3 scoring margin (8^th)
40.9 field goal percentage (6^th) | 33.5 three-point percentage (5^th) | 72.9 free throw percentage (6^th)
42.5 opponent field goal percentage (13^th) | 32.6 opponent three-point percentage (12^th)
38.0 rebounds per game (7^th) | 12.1 offensive rebounds per game (4^th)
35.2 opponent rebounds per game (4^th) | 2.8 rebounding margin (7^th)
15.8 turnovers per game (11^th) | 16.0 turnovers forced per game (4^th) | 0.24 turnover margin (4^th)
3.71 blocks per game (7^th)
8.52 steals per game (5^th)
16.43 assists per game (3^rd)
6.7 three-point field goals made per game (9^th)

Playoff Push
With three weeks left in the regular season, the Huskies will be looking to make a playoff push to solidify their place in the standings. The top four seeds in the standings receive a bye to the Stanford Pentagon, teams seeded 5-8 will host a first round playoff game, and teams seed 9-12 will travel to the corresponding host. St. Cloud State is currently ninth in the NSIC Standings.

The full NSIC Standings are as follows:

Concordia-St. Paul: 20-2, 14-2 NSIC
Southwest Minnesota State: 20-2, 14-2
Minnesota State: 18-4, 14-2
Northern State: 14-8, 11-5
UMary: 12-8, 9-7
Sioux Falls: 13-10, 9-7
MSU Moorhead: 10-12, 8-8
Wayne State: 10-10, 7-9
St. Cloud State: 10-11, 7-9
Minot State: 8-15, 7-9
Winona State: 9-13, 5-11
Minnesota Duluth: 7-14, 5-11
Minnesota Crookston: 7-15, 5-11
Bemidji State: 5-15, 3-13
Augustana: 4-18, 2-14

All stats and standings accumulated February 4

Series History
Wednesday's game against UMary will be the 33rd all-time between the two teams with the Huskies holding a 20-12 lead in the series. The teams faced off earlier in the season where the Marauders would come out victorious.

The Huskies got off to a strong start as the Marauders were unable to make a field goal in the first four minutes of the game. St. Cloud State led 8-1 when UMary made their first field goal at the 5:19 mark of the quarter. The Marauders started to find their flow offensively from that moment as they closed the quarter on an 18-10 run as they would lead 21-18 heading into the second quarter. The two teams battled back and forth in the second quarter as neither team would hold a lead greater than three points. UMary held a marginal 33-32 lead going into halftime. St. Cloud State would momentarily hold momentum as Alyssa Stamer capped off a 10-1 run with a three-pointer as the Huskies would lead 42-36. UMary countered with a 7-0 run as they took a one-point lead. From that point on, neither team led by more than four points the remainder of the quarter. UMary ended the quarter with a bang as Emily Jaenke banked in a halfcourt heave at the buzzer to give the Marauders a 53-51 lead. From that point on, UMary was in control the rest of the way. They used their newly found momentum and translated that to the defensive end as St. Cloud State made their first field goal of the quarter with 1:20 left in the game. The Huskies shot 1/11 from the field in the fourth quarter and would be outscored 20-4. UMary ramped up their defensive energy in the final frame as they would go on to win 73-55. Alana Zarneke paced the Huskies in scoring with 14 points on 5/9 from the field and 4/5 from beyond the arc. She also grabbed three rebounds and totaled two assists and blocks. Her four three-point makes were a season high and this was her third multi-block game of the year. Reagan Briggs nearly tallied a double-double after recording eight points and nine rebounds. She also recorded three steals and two assists. The rebounds and steals were both career-highs for Briggs.

Saturday' game against Minot State will be the 27th meeting between the programs with the Huskies holding a 21-5 advantage. The teams matched up earlier in the year at Minot where the Huskies came away with the win.

The Huskies flexed their defensive muscle in the first quarter as they held the Beavers to nine points on 4/13 shooting. Offensively, St. Cloud State put up 19 points by shooting 7/17, but were aggressive attacking the paint as they made five of their six free throw attempts. The teams battled in the second quarter quickly cut the Huskies lead to six points with 7:49 remaining in the half. Kylan Gerads pushed that lead back up to double-digits after she cashed a three-pointer and then finished a layup off her own miss to set the score at 26-15. St. Cloud State would go into halftime leading 29-20 after holding the Beavers to 36% from the field. SCSU's offense started to pick up coming out of halftime as a 9-2 run gave them a 15 point lead with 3:11 left in the third quarter. St. Cloud State would comfortably hold a 48-32 lead going into the final quarter after Jada Eggebrecht nailed a jumper with 39 seconds remaining. Minot State came out with a spark to start the fourth quarter as a 7-0 run at the 6:30 mark of the game cut St. Cloud State's lead to 10 points. SCSU would call a timeout and after trading turnovers, Reagan Briggs knocked down a much needed three-pointer for the Huskies to ease the tension. Minot State was never able to crack the St. Cloud State's lead into single digits the rest of the way as the Huskies picked up their first conference victory with a 63-51 win. The Huskies defense was lights out as they held Minot State to 40% from the field, 28% from three, and forced 19 turnovers. Jada Eggebrecht scored a game-high 19 points to go along with three rebounds and one assist and steal. Eggebrecht has scored 16+ points in four of SCSU's six games this season. Kylan Gerads set a career-high in scoring as she tallied 12 points on 4/6 shooting. She also made two three-pointers and grabbed six rebounds which she has done three times this season.

Scouting UMary
The University of Mary Marauders come into this matchup holding a 12-8 record with a 9-7 mark in conference play. The Marauders have won three of their past four games with wins coming against Minnesota Duluth, Bemidji State, and Minnesota Crookston. Coming into this season, UMary was projected to finish ninth in the NSIC after going 22-11 with a 16-6 record in conference play to place second. The Marauders reached the NSIC Championship game where they were defeated by the eventual National Champion Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks. The offseason saw the Marauder lose their three All-Conference performers from a year ago including NSIC Player of the Year Lexie Schneider, First Team All-Conference Megan Zander, and Second Team All-Conference Mariah McKeever. Both Zander and McKeever returned to the team this year as assistant coaches.

UMary holds only one player that scores in double figures in Bergan Kinnebrew. She totals 14.4 points per game on 38.4% from the field and 33.8% from beyond the arc. Kinnebrew is also grabbing 3.8 rebounds. Four other Marauders score 7+ points per game. Chloe Pfau leads the bunch with a 9.1 per game scoring average.

Head Coach Rick Neumann enters his 13^th season with UMary ahead of the 2024-25 season. During his tenure, Neumann has compiled an 192-165 record with a 142-125 mark in NSIC play.

UMary Statistical Leaders (total-average)

Points- Bergan Kinnebrew (274-14.4)
Rebounds- Moriku Hakim (135-6.8)
Offensive rebounds- Moriku Hakim (55-2.8)
Assists- Eden Fridley/Ryleigh Wacha (45-2.3)
Steals- Chloe Pfau (36-1.8)
Blocks- Addison Rozell (32-1.6)
Stocks- Chloe Pfau (44-4.2)
Field goals made- Bergan Kinnebrew (86-4.5)
Three-point field goals made- Emily Jaenke (39-2.2)
Free throw makes- Bergan Kinnebrew (78-4.1)
Minutes- Bergan Kinnebrew (540-27.0)

UMary Team Stats (NSIC Ranking)

66.4 points per game (9^th) | 63.2 points per game allowed (2^nd) | 3.1 scoring margin (6^th)
37.3 field goal percentage (14^th) | 30.7 three-point percentage (8^th) | 68.9 free throw percentage (13^th)
38.6 opponent field goal percentage (3^rd) | 29.9 opponent three-point percentage (4^th)
40.2 rebounds per game (5^th) | 13.0 offensive rebounds per game (2^nd)
37.4 opponent rebounds per game (8^th) | 2.8 rebounding margin (8^th)
15.3 turnovers per game (9^th) | 15.8 turnovers forced per game (5^th) | 0.50 turnover margin (3^rd)
4.10 blocks per game (5^th)
8.80 steals per game (4^th)
14.00 assists per game (8^th)
7.7 three-point field goals made per game (6^th)

Scouting Minot State
The Minot State Beavers come into this matchup holding an 8-15 record with a 7-9 mark in conference play. MSU is current in the midst of a three-game win streak where they have beaten Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota Crookston, and Northern State. The Beavers are coming off a 2023-24 season where they placed 10th after going 10-22 with a 7-15 mark in conference play. In the NSIC Preseason Coaches' Poll Minot State was picked to finish 14th.

Four Beavers currently score in double-digits with Maya Aguilar leading the bunch with a 11.1 per game average. She is shooting 41.9% from the field and 38.5% from three to go with 3.3 rebounds. Three other Beavers hover around 10 points in Emma Mogen, Sydney Gustavsson, and Lara Dobbins. Mogen is scoring 10.6 points per game to go with a team-highs of 5.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists. Gustavsson is averaging 10.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.2 assists. Dobbins is scoring 10.1 points to go with 3.8 rebounds.

Head Coach Ryan Clark enters his first season with the Beavers in 2024-25 after replacing Mike Brandt who had been with the program for three seasons. Prior to Minot State, Clark came from Lake Region State College where he totaled back-to-back 20-12 seasons.

Minot State Statistical Leaders (total-average)

Points- Maya Aguilar (255-11.1)
Rebounds- Emma Mogen (114-5.0)
Offensive rebounds- Emma Mogen (39-1.7)
Assists- Emma Mogen (53-2.3)
Steals- Emma Mogen (28-1.2)
Blocks- Emma Mogen (13-0.6)
Stocks- Emma Mogen (41-1.8)
Field goals made- Emma Mogen (89-3.9)
Three-point field goals made- Maya Aguilar (47-2.0)
Free throw makes- Sydney Gustavsson (48-2.1)
Minutes- Maya Aguilar (717-31.2)

Minot State Team Stats (NSIC Ranking)

61.6 points per game (13^th) | 71.3 points per game allowed (12^th) | -10.2 scoring margin (13^th)
38.9 field goal percentage (12^th) | 31.0 three-point percentage (7^th) | 69.5 free throw percentage (11^th)
40.9 opponent field goal percentage (8^th) | 31.6 opponent three-point percentage (8^th)
33.4 rebounds per game (14^th) | 7.4 offensive rebounds per game (14^th)
40.0 opponent rebounds per game (13^th) | -6.6 rebounding margin (13^th)
16.2 turnovers per game (13^th) | 14.2 turnovers forced per game (9^th) | -2.04 turnover margin (13^th)
1.87 blocks per game (12^th)
6.43 steals per game (11^th)
11.0 assists per game (14^th)
7.8 three-point field goals made per game (4^th)

Minot State will play MSU Moorhead on Wednesday before playing the Huskies on Saturday.

For all the latest on St. Cloud State Women's Basketball, stay tuned to scsuhuskies.com and follow the Huskies on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.