After opening the 2018-19 season on a four-game road trip, the Warrior women finally get the chance to play in McCown as WSU hosts Upper Iowa on Saturday afternoon. Winona State brings an even 2-2 record into the matchup with the Peacocks (3-4), after spending the past two weekends on the road. The Warriors own a decisive 28-2 lead all-time over Upper Iowa. WSU swept the season series last year in a pair of close games that were both decided by less than 13 points each.
NOTES
EARLY SEASON CATCHUP:The Warriors were road tested early on this season, kicking off play at the Quincy Subway Classic. Winona State defeated Quincy to open the season where
Allie Pickrain shot 67% from beyond the arc to lead the Warriors to victory. The next day, WSU saw a late fourth quarter lead slip away, losing to Truman State in overtime. Last weekend, WSU traveled west to Colorado where the Warriors defeated Colorado Christian University and lost a tightly contested matchup with Metro State-Denver, a game that never saw either team lead by more than nine points.
Kayla Schaefer and
Emily Kieck each netted a career-best 21 points at Colorado Christian while Pickrain recorded a career-high 26 at Metro State. Through four games, WSU has shown some lockdown defense at the top of the key, holding opponents to just 24% from three-point range heading into conference play.
ROLL CALL: The Warriors enter the 2018-19 season with another young but experienced squad. Leading the way for Winona State are seniors
Kayla Schaefer and
Rachel Novotny. Schaefer started all 30 games for the Warriors last season, tallying 7.4 ppg and shooting 39 % from three. Novotny was second on the team, pulling down 130 boards in 24 games played and swatting nine shots. Along with the seniors, juniors
Gabie Doud and
Alyssa Jurgest complete the upperclassmen portion of the Warrior roster. Doud battled a nagging injury early in the season but was able to make her mark on the 2017-18 season, averaging 10.6 ppg and shooting 43% from beyond the arc. Winona State boasts nine underclassmen with a lot of upside. Most notably the reigning NSIC Freshman of the Year Allie Pirkrain who during her freshman campaign, led the NSIC by shooting 43% from beyond the arc and averaged 12.8 ppg. The Warriors welcome four newcomers to the team this year including Minnesota State transfer,
Taylor Klug, who will sit out the 2018-19 season due to the interconference transfer rule.
PRESEASON HOPEFUL: WSU has been picked seventh overall and fourth in the South Division by the coaches of the NSIC. The Warriors were in a similar passion last season, but prominently showed that the rankings didn't mean much when it came to the performance on the court, finishing the season as the runner-up in the NSIC Tournament. 2018 NSIC Freshman of the Year,
Allie Pickrain, has been selected as Winona State's preseason player to watch.
LEADING THE CHARGE: Head coach
Scott Ballard enters his 15th season as Warrior head coach. In each of Ballard's last four seasons, the Warriors have eclipsed 17 wins while making the conference finals twice in the last three years. In those four seasons, WSU has amassed an astounding 47-9 record on their home court. Helping to lead the Warriors this season is associate head coach,
Ana Wurtz,who was recently elevated from an assistant this past offseason. Completing the Winona State coaching staff is graduate assistant
Hannah McGlone. McGlone concluded her Warrior playing career last winter as the all-time leading rebounder in program history and wasted no time becoming the program's next graduate assistant.
SCOUTING UIU: The Peacocks (3-4) are recently coming off a three-game stretch over Thanksgiving break, playing in Puerto Rico. The Peacocks dropped the first game to New Haven but bounced back to end the trip with two victories over Universidad del Sagrado Corazón and University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras. The Peacocks leading scorer so far this season is Natalie Dinius who is averaging 10.4 ppg. Haley Martin has brought down 52 boards so far this season, leading the team with 7.4 rebounds per game. The Peacocks bring a -5.0 scoring margin into Saturday's matchup, but have shown that they will take advantage of the opportunities from the charity stripe, knocking down 15.9 free-throws per game, seven more than their opponents (8.4).
