Saturday's Women's Basketball Storylines:
QUARTERFINAL CLASH: The Winona State women's basketball team will get an opportunity to avenge an early season road loss at MSU Moorhead as the Warriors will take on the Dragons in the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament Quarterfinal. The game will be played on Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Pentagon in Sioux Falls. Last time the two teams played, the Dragons were victorious on the their home floor 80-54 after storming out to a 21-2 lead and holding the Warriors to 19 first-half points.
'ONE' FOR THE AGES: Junior point guard
Connor Nagle only made one basket in the first round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament against the University of Mary, but it was the biggest basket she's made in her career to date. With the game tied at 62, Nagle knocked down her 100th career three-pointer with 1.6 seconds left to give the Warriors a three-point lead in a game they would pull out 67-62 and advance to the quarterfinal round of the tourney.
NEW HEIGHTS FOR HANNAH MCGLONE: The freshman forward in a do-or-die situation came away with her best game of her young Warrior career in the game against Mary. McGlone scored a career-high 19 points, leading the team that night in scoring as well as leading the way on the glass with eight boards. It was the fourth straight game McGlone had scored in double-figures.
TALL ORDER: Scoring on sophomore center
Kayla Timmerman has given teams fits. In Wednesday's quarterfinal game, Timmerman recorded a career-high six blocked shots, tying her previous marks in both games against Minnesota State. The six blocked shots also propelled her up the single-season blocks record book, passing Bernie Roskop for fourth all-time in the WSU record book. Timmerman needs 11 more blocks this season to tie Amanda Brown for third on the list, as Brown holds the top three spots in the WSU record book.
SCOUTING THE DRAGONS: The Warriors will have their hands full trying to guard one of the NSIC's best players in Meghan Roehrich. The junior guard is the second-leading scorer in the NSIC at 18.2 ppg and provided a tough challenge in the last meeting for WSU. Roehrich scored 30 points against the Warriors in the last meeting and is coming off a 29 point performance in MSU Moorhead's first round win over Upper Iowa. The Dragons don't get many in double-figures, as the only other Dragon threat on offense is Heather Strese, who averages 11.3 ppg for the Dragons. She scored 15 points in MSU Moorhead's 80-54 win over the Warriors in the last meeting.
SERIES HISTORY VERSUS THE DRAGONS: The Warriors are 26-45 against the Dragons all-time and 9-10 under Coach Ballard. The Warriors have dropped the last two against MSU Moorhead, but have had some good success against them since 2008. Winona State is 8-4 against the Dragons since the 2007-2008 season. The Warriors have not played the Dragons in the NSIC Tournament since the 2004-2005 season, which was head coach
Scott Ballard's first season with the Warriors.
POTENTIAL REMATCH: If the Warriors advance to the semifinal round, WSU could be matched up with No. 18 Wayne State for the second time in 10 days. In the matchup last week in McCown Gymnasium, the Warriors ended a 14 game winning streak for the Wildcats with a 69-56 victory.
