Photo by Jake McNeill Southwest Minnesota State guard Madison Gehloff (10) drives through contact during the first half of a womens basketball game against Northern State at the R/A Facility in Marshall on Saturday. The Mustangs defeated the Wolves 73-53.

Coming off a home split against two of the top offenses in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference last weekend, the Southwest Minnesota State women’s basketball team has another tough challenge this week when it hosts first-place Minnesota State on Friday and Winona State on Saturday.

The Mustangs’ 10-game winning streak came to an end last Friday when UMary defeated SMSU 83-72 behind 37 points from Lexie Schneider, the NSIC’s scoring leader. After falling to the fifth-place Marauders, the Mustangs bounced back with a 73-53 rout of second-place Northern State on Saturday. Bri Stoltzman had 18 points and seven rebounds in the game. The Mustang defense also held Madelyn Bragg, the NSIC’s second-leading scorer this season, to her first single-digit scoring game of the season with 9 points.

Minnesota State ended SMSU’s season last year with a 100-82 defeat in the NSIC Championship game. SMSU led 23-22 after the first quarter and trailed just 43-48 at halftime, but the Mavericks pulled away in the fourth quarter to run away with the win. Sam Wall led all scorers with 21 points in the game while Stoltzman tied Joey Batt as the game’s second-leading scorer with 20 points.

Last weekend’s split has SMSU at 13-7 overall this season and 11-3 in conference play, tying them for second with Northern State. Leading the conference is their Friday opponent, Minnesota State, with a 14-1 conference record and a 17-4 overall record.

The No. 22 Mavericks haven’t lost since they fell 75-64 against Minnesota Duluth on Nov. 21. Since then, Minnesota State has won 15 consecutive games, including a 78-50 win over SMSU on Dec. 2. Batt and Natalie Bremer led the Mavericks with 21 and 14 points respectively while Madison Gehloff and Hannah Parsley led SMSU with 14 and 11 points.

Both teams struggled to take the lid off the basket in the teams’ last matchup; SMSU shot 1-of-22 from 3-point range while Minnesota State shot 2-of-15. Yet, turnovers proved to be the deciding factor as the Mavericks generated 47 points off turnovers compared to just 9 for the Mustangs.

The good news for the Mustangs is that their last matchup has been an aberration from the way they’ve played this season as a whole; SMSU’s 35.2% shooting from 3-point range and 529 attempts are both conference highs. Minnesota State’s 25.4% clip, meanwhile, puts them ahead of only Bemidji State. SMSU is also second in the conference in terms of its ability to defend the 3, holding opponents to 25.4% from long range.

The bad news for the Mustangs is that the teams’ last meeting’s turnover battle was par for the course for the Mavericks. Minnesota State has averaged a plus-12.57 turnover margin, 10 turnovers better than the next closest team in the conference (Wayne State, 2.47). SMSU ranks fourth in the NSIC at plus-1.45. 

Batt and Hannah Herzig lead the conference in steals per game with 3.6 and 2.6 steals per game respectively. Natalie Bremer and Emily Herzberg also rank fourth and seventh while Mackenzie Scheim and Destinee Bursch are also in the top 20 in the NSIC. For the Mustangs, Stoltzman and Parsley lead the team with 2.1 and 1.8 steals respectively.

Batt, Bremer and Bursch have made the most of the Mavericks’ extra offensive possessions on the offensive end. Batt and Bursch rank eighth and ninth in the NSIC with 15.1 and 14.3 points per game while Bremer is right behind them with 14.1 points per game. All three also rank in the top 10 in the NSIC in field goal percentage. Batt leads the team with a 46.8% effective field goal percentage while Bremer and Bursch clock in at 46.6% and 45.5% respectively.

Minnesota State’s 77.8 points per game are a conference-high but SMSU is right on their heels at 76.2. Stoltzman has led the Mustangs so far this season with 19.3 points per game on a 49.2% effective field goal percentage. Wall’s 12.8 points per game also put her in 12th in the conference behind her NSIC 49 3-pointers on a 36% clip. 

After Friday’s game, the Mustangs will host Winona State on Saturday. The Warriors have struggled as of late, losing each of their last five games to fall to 5-15 overall and 4-11 in NSIC play, putting them ahead of only Winona State and Wayne State. 

When the Warriors and Mustangs last met on Dec. 1, Ava Sergio led Winona State to a 76-61 win over SMSU with 19 points on 8-of-9 from the field. Madison Gehloff led SMSU with 18 points on 3-of-8 from long range. Winona State outscored SMSU 48-24 in the paint during the game.

While SMSU will have played three consecutive games against high-octane offenses heading into Saturday’s matchup, the Warriors provide a change of pace. Their 55.5 points per game are the second-fewest in the NSIC while their 64 points allowed put them in the middle of the pack at No. 9.

While the Warriors’ minus-1.8 rebounding margin doesn’t move mountains, they do have one of the NSIC’s top individual rebounders in Alex Dornfeld. The senior forward ranks fifth in the NSIC with 7.3 rebounds per game. Dornfeld’s mark makes her the only Warrior to rank in the top 25 in the NSIC in points, rebounds, assists, steals or blocks. Stoltzman and Parsley lead the Mustangs with 6.6 and 5.5 respectively.

Olivia Gamoke is the Warriors’ leading scorer on the season with 9.4 points per game on 36.4% from the field while Dornfeld and Carpenter add another 8.1 each on 35.3% and 33.1% respectively.

The Mustangs’ game against Minnesota State will tip off in the R/A Facility at 5:30 p.m. on Friday and they’ll get started against Winona State at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. A radio broadcast of the game can be found at 105.1 FM KARL while live video and stats are available online at SMSUmustangs.com.