Photo by Samantha Davis: Southwest Minnesota State University senior Audrey Swanson drives the lane against Minot State on Jan. 16 at the R/A Facility in Marshall. The Mustangs will host Augustana today for senior night before traveling to Wayne State on Saturday to close the regular season.

MARSHALL — With pressure building and looking to get back on track to enter the postseason with some momentum, the Southwest Minnesota State University womens basketball team wraps up the regular season with a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matchups this week. The Mustangs will host Augustana today for Senior Night before hitting the road to Wayne State on Saturday.

SMSU (14-11, 12-8 NSIC) enters this week having dropped four of its last five games, and will look to pick up two wins to build back some rhythm as the NSIC Tournament is slated to begin next Wednesday.

Today’s matchup against AU (9-17, 6-14 NSIC) will tip off at 5:30 p.m. from the R/A Facility on campus. SMSU will recognize its senior group in Maddie Thorfinnson, Zoie Centers, Audrey Swanson and Kennadi Buchholz.

Saturday’s game at Wayne State (10-16, 5-15 NSIC) is scheduled for 1 p.m. and will end the regular season for the Mustangs.

There will be a radio broadcast on 105.1 FM KARL for both games, while live stats and video can be found online at SMSUmustangs.com.

Final look at conference standings

The Mustangs enter the final stretch of the regular season tied for fifth in the NSIC with Winona State, both of whom hold a 12-8 record in conference play. The two are also tied for third in the NSIC South division.

Undefeated and top-ranked Minnesota State (26-0, 20-0 NSIC) has already claimed the regular-season conference championship following an 86-57 win over Augustana last Thursday.

The Vikings and Wildcats both sit in the latter half of the complete conference standings, in 13th and 14th, respectively. The top 12 teams of the 16-team conference make it into the NSIC Tournament.

Depending on the outcome of this weekend for the Mustangs, Winona and UMary (21-8, 14-6 NSIC) who sit fourth in the conference, Thursday’s game may be the final home game this season for SMSU.

The top four teams at the end of the regular season get a bye into the tournament’s quarterfinals in Sioux Falls. The higher-seeded team in the standings for fifth through eighth will host a game for the first round.

Vikings make a visit

SMSU has won the last five consecutive meetings with AU, most recently on the road on Dec. 4 this season, 75-47. Notably, the Mustangs have not dropped a game to the Vikings at home since 2021.

Augustana comes into today looking to snap a four-game skid.

The Mustangs continue to rank fourth in the conference in scoring offense with 72.5 points a night, while AU averages 64.7 for 12th in the NSIC.

Particularly, SMSU’s efficient perimeter shooting also continues to serve the team well with a 35% shooting mark on 8.2 makes a game, both of which are second in the NSIC.

Both Augustana and Wayne State rank in the bottom half of the conference in 3-point shooting.

While SMSU holds a numerical advantage over AU in a majority of categorical statistics, the Mustangs will look to make a difference on the offensive glass against the Vikings, as the two average 11.4 and 11.3 offensive rebounds a game.

The two will also specifically aim to protect the ball well, being two of the top-four teams in the conference in terms of amount of turnovers given up. SMSU sits fourth in the NSIC averaging 17 turnovers a night, while AU is second with 18.8.

Isabella Sanneh is the Vikings’ leading scorer and rebounder with 14.5 points and 9.6 boards a game. For SMSU, Swanson remains the leading scorer with 17.88 points along with a team second-best 7.7 rebounds, while Natalie Nielsen leads on the glass with 8.74 rebounds on average.

SMSU also has four players averaging double-figure scoring, with Nicole Maenke, Nielsen and Kylan Gerads following Swanson.

The Mustangs dominated the rebounding battle against AU in the meeting earlier this season 40-27, notably with 30 defensive boards to the Vikings’ 17.

Along with its nine 3-pointers, SMSU took advantage of the Vikings inside as well, with 34 points in the paint to AU’s 20.

Winning against Wayne State

The Wildcats also enter the weekend looking to get back on track and snap a five-game losing streak.

SMSU has taken six of the last seven games against WSC, but the series is split 3-3 in the past six meetings played on the Wildcats’ court.

Wayne State currently averages 63.8 points a night, but is neck-and-neck with SMSU in terms of rebounding and rank middle of the pack in the conference. Both teams average 37 boards a game.

Much like AU, SMSU will need to play with strong ball protection against the Wildcats, who average 17.7 turnovers, but also force a league second-best 17.7 turnovers a game.

SMSU handled business against WSC in the first meeting this season in an 84-58 win on Dec. 6, behind an impressive 3-point shooting night.

The Mustangs had 14 made 3s in the win, with Gerads leading the way of 5 of 6 shooting from deep. Thorfinnson and Busse each had another trio of 3-pointers as well. SMSU also shot 50% from the field overall, and held WSC to 44% and just four 3-pointers.

Looking to do the same this weekend, SMSU also performed well on the boards, outrebounding Wayne State 40-25 in the previous meeting.

Kylah vanDonkersgoed is WSC’s leading scorer and rebounder, at 13.1 points and 5.9 boards on average.

Looking ahead

Following this weekend, SMSU will find out if it has to compete in the tournament’s play-in round or will receive a bye into the quarterfinals.

The play-ins would take place next Wednesday, with the quarterfinals slated to begin next Saturday.

In last season’s NSIC Tournament, SMSU defeated MSU Moorhead in the quarterfinals before coming up short 87-74 in the semifinals to Minnesota State. But, the Mustangs earned a bid and went on to compete in the NCAA Tournament for another three games, making it to the Central Region championship.