WINONA, Minn. – The Winona State University women's basketball team embarks on its final road trip of the regular season in hopes of snapping its current eight-game skid. The Warriors not only have a chance to skirt their current losing streak, but pick up a pair of season sweeps.
Winona State travels to Concordia-St. Paul Friday night for a 6 p.m. game, followed by a 4 p.m. tip at Mankato on Saturday afternoon.
The Warriors dropped a pair of hard-fought home games last weekend, including a historic four-overtime battle against (RV) MSU Moorhead. The 101-97 loss to the Dragons is believed to be the longest game in the history of the NSIC. Winona then dropped a 70-63 contest to Northern State the following night.
Despite the setbacks, the Warriors did see an uptick in their shooting performance which had been sluggish during the first six games of their skid. WSU shot better than 45% in both games, including a 9-for-20 effort from downtown versus Northern. That 45% clip from beyond the arc on Saturday was Winona's first game over 40% from three-point range since January 6th.
After missing over a month due to injury, Gabie Doud returned to the WSU lineup for January's final road trip. The sophomore found herself in the starting lineup for the first time in her career Friday against Moorhead and had a career night. Doud made the most of her opportunity by dropping a career-best 27 points to go along with 10 rebounds for her first collegiate double-double.
Hannah McGlone leads the team and ranks seventh in the NSIC with 14 points per game, while ranking second in the conference in rebounding (10.1). The senior has already scored a career-best 308 points this season, and enters the road trip needing just 19 points to join the Warriors' 1,000-point club.
Allie Pickrain is averaging 12.6 ppg during her freshman campaign, including 17.4 ppg over her last five contests. She leads Winona by shooting 43% from downtown.
Freshman Julia Silloway averaged 8.5 points last weekend, including a career-high 10 against Moorhead, and went 3-for-5 from downtown over two games.
WSU ranks fifth in the league in scoring defense (62.0) and is fourth in rebounding defense (34.2).
Scouting Concordia
The Golden Bears (7-17, 4-14 NSIC) enter Friday's tilt against Winona on a three-game skid. WSU defeated Concordia earlier this season, 62-43, however, the Golden Bears' leading scorer, Anna Schmitt (19.1 ppg), was limited to two points and just eight minutes in that game due to injury.
Schmitt is shooting 44% for CSP, including a 41% clip from beyond the arc in 22 games.
Concordia ranks near the bottom of the NSIC in scoring offense (61.8 ppg), and is allowing 71.4 ppg to opponents which is second-to-last in the league. The Golden Bears have been held to 50 points or fewer seven times this season, including this season's matchup with Winona. CSP is averaging 51 ppg offensively over its current losing streak.
The Warriors have won seven of their last eight meetings against the Golden Bears.
Scouting Mankato
The Mavericks (8-16, 6-12 NSIC) host Upper Iowa before finishing the weekend against Winona. The Warriors won an 80-52 contest over Mankato earlier this season. WSU didn't allow a single Maverick to reach double digits in the scoring column that night.
Mankato was also missing its leading scorer against the Warriors during the last matchup in Claire Ziegler (12.6 ppg). Ziegler also leads the Mavericks by shooting 48% from the field and is their top rebounder (7.9).
The Mavericks have committed the second most turnovers in the NSIC this season with 393.
Winona leads the all-time series against Mankato, 35-18, but the teams have equally split the last 10 matchups.
