Photo by Samantha Davis: Southwest Minnesota State University Brynn Busse drives toward the paint during a womens basketball game against UMary on Jan. 17 in Marshall.

MARSHALL — After splitting a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matchups last weekend, the Southwest Minnesota State University womens basketball team will look to get back on track as it wraps up its four-game road trip this weekend. The Mustangs will face St. Cloud State today before taking on the No. 2 undefeated Minnesota State Mavericks on Saturday.

SMSU heads into the weekend 13-8 overall, and shares a tie for third place in the conference at 11-5 with UMary and Concordia-St. Paul. The Mustangs are also tied for second in the NSIC South with CSP (15-6, 11-5).

The Huskies (9-12, 6-10 NSIC) are 10th in the 16-team conference, while Minnesota State sits comfortably on top with a perfect 16-0 record in the NSIC and 22-0 overall.

Both games will be a rematch from December.

The Mustangs and Huskies will tip off from Halenbeck Hall at 5:30 p.m. today, and will then meet the Mavericks at 1 p.m. on Saturday from the Taylor Center. There will be a radio broadcast on 105.1 FM KARL, while live stats and video can be found online at SMSUmustangs.com.

Last week’s action

Last weekend, SMSU defeated new NSIC-opponent Jamestown 76-66 on Friday before its five-game win streak came to an end with a 74-66 loss to Northern State on Saturday.

The Wolves finished the game on a 12-3 run in the final two minutes to help come away with the defeat over SMSU, and also started the game on strong momentum with a 21-10 first-quarter lead.

The Mustangs had a 63-62 lead with 2:34 left to play, but couldn’t find an answer to stop NSU’s 8-0 run from there to take a 70-63 advantage back with 43 seconds remaining.

A strong third-period helped SMSU pull away against the Jimmies, after a tightly-contested first half.

Four Mustangs scored in double figures in the victory, led by Nicole Maenke’s 20 points. Maddie Thorfinnson had a team-high seven assists with no turnovers.

Hustling with the Huskies

SCSU comes into today winning its last three of four games, including a 69-67 thriller over Minnesota Crookston on Saturday.

The Mustangs rank fourth in the NSIC in scoring offense, averaging 73.4 points a game, while the Huskies follow in seventh with 70.9 points on average.

While St. Cloud sits middle of the pack in the NSIC in 3-point shooting percentage and in the latter half of field goal shooting, while SMSU is the second-best shooting team from the perimeter and in the field, the Huskies make up for it in other areas of the game.

SCSU is second in the conference in rebounding with 40 a game, only behind CSP’s 40.4 average. SMSU is 11th with an average of 36.6 boards a night.

The Huskies also have a slight edge over the Mustangs on the defensive end in steals, grabbing 8.38 a game, fourth in the NSIC, to SMSU’s 6.24.

Jada Eggebrecht is SCSU’s leading scorer averaging 13.62 points, followed up with Alana Zarneke’s 11.67.

SMSU’s scoring effort remains well-balanced with four players averaging double figures, led by Audrey Swanson’s 17 points per game. Maenke follows with 15.4, while Natalie Nielsen and Kylan Gerads both average slightly over 13 a game.

The Mustangs and Huskies met on Dec. 20 earlier this season, where SMSU came away with a 75-64 victory behind Maenke’s 26 points on 8 of 14 shooting. She also had four of SMSU’s five 3-pointers.

SMSU made it a point to take away one of SCSU’s prominent strengths in glass protection, and outrebounded the Huskies 45-31, particularly on the defensive board 31-19.

The Mustangs will look to keep their trend going today, having won four of the last five games against SCSU.

Scouting the Mighty Mavericks

SMSU will gear up to take on the 2023-2024 National Champions on Saturday in MSU, who currently leads all of Division II with 95.8 points a game. Glenville State follows the next closest in scoring offense to the Mavericks, separated by 8 points at 87.4.

Notably, the Mavericks’ scoring margin of plus-29.8 points also leads Division II, and is well ahead of every other team in the NSIC. Minnesota Duluth’s win margin of plus-10 points ranks second in the conference.

The Mavericks also have a tenacious defense that leads Division II with 21.3 steals a game. Wayne State’s 9.14 average steals follow MSU in the NSIC.

MSU has been ranked No. 2 in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association coaches polls for nine consecutive weeks, and is also the only NSIC program to appear in the top-25 in this week’s poll. The Mavericks are one of two unbeaten Division II teams remaining this season, alongside top-ranked Grand Valley State, the reigning national champions.

The Mustangs hold an edge over MSU in 3-point shooting percentage and makes, shooting 36.4% from deep with 8.5 makes a game, both ranked second in the conference. The Mavericks average 34.7% shooting with six-made 3s.

Natalie Bremer is the second-leading scorer in the NSIC and leads MSU with 21.5 points, while her and Hannah Herzig individually lead the conference with an average of 2.5 and 3.1 steals, respectively.

The Mustangs, however, have two NSIC-leading rebounders in the top-5. Nielsen ranks third with 8.4 boards a game, while Swanson averages 7.7 for fifth in the conference.

SMSU suffered a 94-49 loss to MSU in the first matchup this season on Dec. 19 behind 51 turnovers. The Mavericks dominated behind 36 steals while giving up 18 turnovers themselves.

Bremer led the win with 20 points, as Swanson was the Mustangs’ leading scorer with 11.

Looking ahead

Following this weekend, SMSU will return back to Marshall for a three-game homestand with four regular-season games remaining.

The Mustangs will welcome in Winona State (13-9, 10-6) next Thursday at 5:30 p.m., and CSP (15-6, 11-5) on Saturday at 2 p.m. Both games will be back in the R/A Facility on campus.