Photo by Samantha Davis: Nicole Maenke analyzes the offense in the first half against Sioux Falls on Jan. 3 in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game at the R/A Facility in Marshall. The Mustangs host Winona State today and Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday.

MARSHALL — Looking to make a final push to end the regular season with four games remaining, the Southwest Minnesota State University womens basketball team returns home this week for a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matchups. The Mustangs aim to snap a three-game skid when they host Winona State today and Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday.

Teams are vying to climb the NSIC standings as much as possible with limited time left, as the NSIC Tournament begins in just two weeks. The top 12 teams of the 16-team conference earn a spot into the postseason.

CSP, Winona and SMSU enter the weekend sitting next to one another in the current conference standings.

The Mustangs (13-10, 11-7 NSIC) stand in sixth place, while the Warriors (15-9, 12-6 NSIC) and Golden Bears (17-6, 13-5 NSIC) are fifth and fourth, respectively.

SMSU and Winona will tip off at 5:30 p.m. today, and the game against CSP is slated for 2 p.m. on Saturday. 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.

Facing some adversity

SMSU has dropped its last three contests, including both games last weekend against St. Cloud State University and No. 2 Minnesota State. The Mustangs suffered a loss to Northern State 74-66 the weekend prior.

In the 82-67 loss to SCSU on the road last Thursday, SMSU faced a deficit the entire night. The Huskies got off to a 21-2 start, which was ultimately too much for the Mustangs to fully overcome as the game went on.

While SMSU ranks second in the NSIC in 3-point percentage at 35.9%, SCSU held the Mustangs to a 25% clip going 6 of 24 from deep.

Despite the loss, Audrey Swanson had a record night with a career-high 31 points on 11 of 18 shooting while also scoring her 1,000th career point in the fourth quarter.

In a thriller, SMSU came close to handing Minnesota State its first loss of the season on Saturday but came up short 79-71.

The Mustangs came within a point, 72-71, with 1:52 to play on the brink of an upset following two free throws each from Kylan Gerads and Maddie Thorfinnson.

The Mavericks, however, returned the favor at the foul line the rest of the way as SMSU intentionally fouled.

SMSU also took a 47-46 lead midway through the third quarter with a Natalie Nielsen layup, and continued to chip away as Minnesota State took its lead back.

The Mustangs heavily outrebounded Minnesota State 50-33, but the Mavericks lead the conference and Division II in forced turnovers with 34.2, and forced 41 on SMSU.

Gerads led SMSU with 19 points and 11 rebounds in the game.

Wearing down the Warriors

SMSU will be looking to get revenge on Winona State after dropping the first meeting between the two 84-78 earlier this season on Dec. 14.

The Mustangs currently sit fourth in the NSIC with 73 points a game, while Winona follows with an average of 70.6 for eighth in the conference.

While Winona ranks around the middle of the pack in 3-point shooting where the Mustangs remain as the second-best perimeter shooting team, the Warriors lead the NSIC in rebounding margin at 8.8 to SMSU’s 4.8, which is third in the NSIC.

Particularly, the Warriors are strong on the defensive glass, averaging 28, as SMSU averages 25.5.

Winona has four players averaging double figures, led by Hailey Markworth’s 16.6. Vivica Bretton follows with 12.3, while Megan Schuman and Sadie Jarmolowicz average 11.3 and 10.3, respectively.

Schuman is also the Warriors’ best rebounder with 6.5 a night, while Markworth and Jarmolowicz also average six.

For the Mustangs, who also have four averaging double figures, Swanson remains as the leading scorer with an average of 17.3 along with 7.64 rebounds. Nielsen leads the team with 8.6 boards a night.

Nicole Maenke is averaging 14.8 points, while Gerads and Nielsen follow with 13 each.

In the last matchup against the two, the Mustangs were outrebounded 38-27 and will look to win the rebounding battle this time around.

SMSU had nine 3-pointers in the loss to Winona’s three, but the Warriors also won the battle inside with 48 paint points to the Mustangs’ 34.

Notably, the Mustangs will look to play a cleaner game tonight as they were called for 23 fouls last time, which allowed Winona to shoot 25 of 31 from the free throw line. SMSU went 13 of 14 on Winona’s 15 fouls.

Gearing up for the Golden Bears

CSP has been on fire recently and enters this weekend winning its last nine games straight, which is the second-longest current active win streak in the NSIC behind the Mavericks, who remain undefeated.

The Golden Bears are second in the NSIC in scoring offense and win margin with 77 points a game, and an 11-point win margin.

SMSU came away with a 70-67 win on Dec. 13 this season in the first matchup between the two with the help of a strong second quarter where the Mustangs outshot CSP 26-14.

In the back-and-forth fourth quarter of the win, Lydia Haack put CSP in front 63-62 with just over two minutes to play with a 3-pointer. Swanson, however, had an immediate response with a 3 of her own to give the edge back to SMSU.

The game came down to free throws, where Maenke helped to save the win with a pair of makes with 13 seconds to play.

Maenke, Nielsen, Gerads and Swanson also scored in double digits in the win, led by Maenke’s 20 on 4 of 6 shooting from deep.

SMSU also had a good performance from the perimeter going 10 of 21, while holding CSP to a 5 of 20 mark.

The Mustangs will also look to pay attention to the Golden Bears’ defense, which forced 21 SMSU turnovers for an extra 21 points in December. SMSU had just 9 points off 12 forced CSP turnovers.

Also on the defensive end, the Golden Bears are the best blocking team in the NSIC with 4.8 a game. Wilson leads the charge with 32 blocks on the season so far, averaging 1.4.

Wilson led CSP with 24 points on 9 of 18 shooting in the win, who averages a team-second best 17.8 points a night. Haack leads the team with 18.6.

Next week’s action

Following this week, SMSU will host its final home game of the season next Thursday against Augustana at 5:30 p.m.

The Mustangs will then wrap up the regular season on Saturday at Wayne State before the NSIC Tournament begins on Feb. 25 with the first round. The quarterfinals are slated to start on Feb. 28.