MANKATO, Minn.   —   Minnesota State will compete in the Northern State Tournament against Black Hills State University and S.D. Mines & Technology, under first year head coach Emilee Thiesse.

Last Year At A Glance: Last season, the Mavericks finished 18-11 overall with a mark of 13-9 in the Northern Sun InterCollegiate conference. Minnesota State was led by senior center Laura Weber who played in all 29 games for the Mavericks and averaged 12.6 points and 7.4 rebounds per game; both were team-highs.

The Opening Tip: The Mavericks will begin the 2012-13 campaign at the Northern State Tournament where they will face the Black Hills State University Yellow Jackets and the S.D. Mines and Technology Hardrockers who are each in their third and final year of transition to becoming NCAA Division II institutions. The Yellow Jackets are in their first year of competition in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), while the Hardrockers have yet to find a conference to call home.

Scouting the Yellow Jackets: BHSU finished its 2011-12 campaign with a record of 12-12 and played an independent schedule. The Yellow Jackets return eight student-athletes from last year’s roster, and are under the direction of Mark Nore who is in his seventh season, and is the winningist coach in school history.

Probing the Hardrockers: S.D. School of Mines and Technology finished its 2011-12 campaign with a record of 16-10 and also competed as an independent institution, as they have yet to find a conference to call home. The Hardrockers return six student athletes from last year’s team including two starters. S.D. Mines is coached by Barb Felderman who enters her 31st season
at the helm of the Hardrocker program.

Exhibition Recap: The Mavericks competed in one exhibition game against the University of Minnesota, The Mavericks fell to the Gophers 66-56 and were led by junior Ali Wilkinson who recorded 24 points and 11 rebounds.

Following The Mavericks: Get the latest information about MSU women’s basketball via Facebook by searching MSU Athletics, twitter.com/msumavericks, youtube.com/msusid and msumavericks.com. For live updates during the Mavericks games be sure to follow @MSUWBBLive on twitter for live tweets from most Minnesota State University women’s basketball games.  

Live Stats: All Minnesota State home women’s basketball games will be streamed over the Internet on live stats.  Simply direct your browser to: www.msumavericks.com and click the multimedia tab to find women’s basketball live stats, or click on live stats link on the corresponding game within the women’s basketball schedule.

Web Streaming: Through the cooperative efforts of the Minnesota State Athletic Department and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, the MSU women’s basketball games will be streamed over the web courtesy of New Media Video.  Simply log on to www.msumavericks.com and click the Maverick multimedia link on the right.

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