WINONA, Minn. - The Winona State University women's basketball team hits home court on Saturday, Feb. 12, hosting Southwest Minnesota State University in the second of three straight home games for the Warriors.
The matchup against the Mustangs is the second of two NSIC tilts in a row and WSU is looking salvage a split on the weekend, having lost a heartbreaker to USF on Friday, 53-52.
Emma Fee tied a season-high mark of 24 points against the Cougars and earned her second double double of the season with 11 rebounds in the game as well.
On Saturday, Winona State will look to deal SMSU it's second loss in the past 48 hours, as the Mustangs fell at Upper Iowa last night, 68-51. Southwest Minnesota State was led by Meleah Reinhart and Abuk Akoi, both of whom scored 11 points on the Peacocks.
Read on for more regarding Saturday's showdown which will tip-off at 3:30pm in McCown Gymnasium, home of WNB Financial Court.
Who: Winona State University vs Southwest Minnesota State University
What: The Warriors (11-12, 8-10 NSIC) will face the Mustangs (11-10, 8-9 NSIC)
When: Saturday, February 12 with a 3:30 pm CST start.
Where: McCown Gymnasium, home of WNB Financial Court
Winona State - SMSU WBB Notables:
Heading into the Warrior weekend:
Senior weekend ... Friday and Saturday, Feb. 11-12 represent the last home weekend of the regular season for the Warriors. On Saturday WSU will honor their three seniors: Emma Fee, Taylor Hustad, and Emily Kieck, who have all been mainstays in the lineup and contributed significantly on and off the court to the Winona State women's basketball program.
Last time around ... Winona State traveled to Sioux Falls to take on the Cougars on Dec. 12 earlier this season. USF handed WSU a 74-54 defeat, where Emily Kieck led the way with 21 points for the Warriors.
Warriors - Mustangs rematch ... SMSU hosted Winona State on Dec. 10 and won a close contest, 69-64. The Warriors comeback effort was not enough down the stretch, but Lindsey Hahn had a breakout performance knocking down six treys and scoring 20 points.
The final stretch ... Winona State has just four games left in the regular season, three of which are home. They are currently sixth in the NSIC South, but are only one game out of fourth. The top six teams from each division will reach the NSIC Tournament.
Milestone markers ahead ... Heading into the weekend, Emily Kieck has scored 973 points in her career and Taylor Hustad is at 963 career points. There have been 18 Warriors who have reached the 1,000 point mark in WSU women's basketball history.
What's up with Winona State:
The Warriors are currently 11-12 overall and 8-11 in the NSIC. Last night Winona State fell to USF, 53-52 on a last second Cougar effort. Last weekend, WSU dropped two contests on the road against Augustana and Wayne State, which ended their four-game win streak.
The Warriors are averaging 64.7 points/game on the offensive end, and have the sixth-best defense in the NSIC allowing just 65.2 points/game to their opponents.
WSU has attempted the second least amount of free throws in the NSIC, but when the Warriors get to the line they take advantage. As a team, Winona State is third in free-throw percentage at 76.5%.
Taylor Hustad leads WSU with 13.4 points/game. Emily Kieck (11.5 ppg) and Caitlin Riley (10.0 ppg) are averaging double-digit scoring as well.
Hustad grabs a team-leading 7.3 boards a game, while Fee brings in 6.1 of her own each game. Both marks are top-20 in the NSIC.
Caitlin Riley is averaging 2.3 makes from downtown per game on the season, which is the second most in the conference.
Kieck is leading the Warriors with 77 free-throw attempts and has made 65 of them, good for the third best free-throw percentage in the NSIC at 84.4%.
Hustad is leading the NSIC in field goal percentage as she has connected on 55.4% of her shots this season.
More Mustang markers:
The Mustangs are 11-9 overall and 8-8 in the NSIC. SMSU dropped their road trip opener to Upper Iowa on Friday, 68-51. Last weekend, SMSU knocked off Minnesota State (63-46) on Friday and Concordia-St. Paul (94-85) in double overtime on Saturday.
Southwest Minnesota State sits at seventh in the conference for both scoring offense and defense. They score an average of 67.6 points/game while allowing 65.4 points each game for a 2.1 scoring margin.
SMSU knocks in the fourth most 3-pointers per game in the league, averaging 7.1 makes from downtown.
Meleah Reinhart leads the Mustangs in scoring and is eight in the NSIC, averaging 14.8 points each game.
Sadie Stelter is the only other Mustang who averages in the double digits, as she pours in 13.2 points/game and leads SMSU with 5.8 rebounds each game.
Abuk Akoi is one of the best rim protectors in the conference, averaging 3.0 blocks/game which is the third-most across the NSIC.
The Mustangs travel to Upper Iowa for a Friday evening game before taking on the Warriors in McCown at 3:30pm on Saturday.
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
