Winona, Minn. -- The Winona State University women's basketball team is set to host Augustana University in a two-game series on Friday and Saturday, January 22-23.  Friday's game will tipoff at 6pm, while Saturday's contest will start at 2pm

The Warriors (0-3 overall / 0-2 NSIC South) will be looking to build on some strong individual performances last weekend in Sioux Falls, where Winona State dropped pair of close contests to USF.  The games this week will be the first NSIC South games at home for WSU in 2020-21.  Winona State dropped their season-opener to UMD, 68-47, in the only home action so far this year. 

For Augustana (3-3 overall / 2-2 NSIC South), this weekend's series will be their second consecutive road trip, having played at Concordia - St. Paul on January 15-16.  The Vikings earned a split with CSP, losing 74-60 to the Golden Bears on Friday, Jan. 15 but recovering to win 61-52 on Saturday, Jan. 16.  Augustana's win over Concordia - St. Paul was the first loss of the season for CSP. 

Last Sunday, Winona State head coach Scott Ballard and his team saw center Emma Fee make a statement with her best performance as a Warrior, scoring 30 points on a 11-of-17 shooting effort from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.  With the 30-point game, Fee tied St. Cloud State's Lydia Haack for the top single-game outing so far in NSIC women's basketball this year.

In a solid four-year career that has seen her start in all but six games she has played in, senior guard Allie Pickrain is just 49 points away from reaching the 1000-point mark for her career. The Apple Valley native would be just the 19th player in WSU women's basketball history to reach that mark. 

Winona State's Taylor Hustad was tied with Ava Sergio for top scoring honors in the Jan. 15 Sioux Falls - WSU contest, a narrow six-point loss for the Warriors. 

Both Hustad and Pickrain have a Warrior top-20 mark in their range this season; Hustad is just 26 boards away from cracking the WSU top-20 career rebounding mark while Pickrain needs a pair of assists to move to 202 all-time, currently the 20th best career effort in that category. 

Read on for the tale of the tape between the Vikings and Warriors, who will face off at McCown Gymnasium, home of WNB Financial Court on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 22-23 on the campus of Winona State University. 

To view the Winona State Fan Guide for following Warrior basketball, please click here.
   
Twice as Nice… With no COVID cancelations on their schedule, Augustana has played all six games so far this year, while the Warriors have completed just three.
 
Fearsome Foursome… The Vikings currently are averaging the fourth-best points per game in the NSIC at 75.2 per contest. 

Great 28...Lauren Sees had 28 points for Augustana against MSU-Mankato earlier this year, the current game-high mark for the Vikings.

Splits-ville… The two teams played each other twice in 2019-20, and the road team won both.  WSU defeated Augustana, 72-64 in Sioux Falls on Dec. 6, and the Vikings defeated the Warriors 68-51 on Jan. 11.

On the Boards... At 10.2 boards a contest, Augustana is sixth in the league in offensive rebounding and rank fifth on the defensive end at 28.3.  WSU is seventh and 13th, in each respective category. 

Top Scorers… Izzy Van Veldhuizen is 11th in the NSIC in scoring, averaging 15.2 points a game, while Emma Fee holds the honor of the highest mark for the Warriors, at 12.7 points per contest.

Keep a Handle on It…Van Veldhuizen is also in the top three in the NSIC in terms of assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.8, with Winona State's Emily Kieck right behind in fourth place at 1.7. 

Just Looking to Help...Kieck is also top five in terms of assists; she is averaging 4.0 helpers per game for the Warriors. 

Feeling Charitable… Augustana's Aislinn Duffy is 22-of-23 from the free throw line this year, good for a .957 average.  Winona State's Shea Dechant is hitting at .821 clip from the line. 

It's a Team Thing... As a program, Winona State is second in the NSIC behind only Concordia, St. Paul, in average assists per contest.  The Warriors average 16 assists per game, while Augustana comes in at 12.5 per contest. 

It's a Team Thing, Two… In terms of steals per game, Augustana averages eight swipes each outing, while Winona State has averaged 4.33 in their three games.    

30-for-30, NSIC Style… Winona State's Scott Ballard has 30 years of experience on the collegiate sideline and has led WSU to the NCAA tournament on three occasions.  Augustana's head coach David Krauth has coached the Vikings for 32 seasons and mentored the 2019-20 NSIC Defensive Player of the Year, Hana Beyer. 


For the most up to date news in Warrior Athletics, please visit: www.WINONASTATEWARRIORS.com and @WinonaStateATH.
About Winona State University Athletics: 

The Winona State University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, as an integral part of the educational mission of the institution, is committed to offering opportunities to experience academic and athletic excellence for our student-athletes through two simple words: Graduate Champions.  

Fourteen Warrior programs compete at the NCAA Division II level within the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).  Winona State University competes as an affiliate member of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) in the sport of women's gymnastics.

Media Contact: Pete Watkins, Director of Athletic Communications | Ph: 507.457.5577 | Email: pwatkins@winona.edu