MANKATO, Minn.   —   Minnesota State will hit the road for its opening-round match-up of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament Wednesday as the fifth-seeded Mavericks take on the fourth-seeded Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs.

Final Regular Season Game: Minnesota State (17-9, 13-9 NSIC) concluded its regular-season action last Saturday earning an 84-65 victory over Southwest Minnesota State.  Freshman guard Aubrey Davis led the way with 18 points including a 6-of-7 performance from downtown.  Sophomore guard Alli Hoefer finished with a career-high 17 points on 7-of-12 from the field while also pulling down three rebounds.  Senior forward Laura Weber added 15 points and 12 rebounds earning her sixth double-double of the season while fellow senior Jennie Noreen recorded 14 points, five rebounds and three assists.  The Mavericks shot 53.2 percent from the field incluing 9-of-19 (47.4 3FG%) from three-point range while also holding a 42-32 rebounding advantage.  Davis connected on five of her three pointers in the first half as she led all scorers with 15 points in the half.  She also added two rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Upcoming Opponent: The Mavericks open play in the NSIC tournament against the fourth-seeded Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs on Wednesday.  Finishing the regular season 18-8 overall and 15-7 in the NSIC, the Bulldogs finished the season on a five-game win streak including a 65-44 win back on Feb. 17 against MSU.  In that game, the Bulldogs sprinted out to a 29-10 lead before entering halftime with a 35-24 lead.  After cutting the lead to ten after six and a half minutes into the second half, UMD went on a 17-3 run taking a 59-35 lead with just under seven minutes remaining.  The Mavericks would apply full-court pressure for the majority of the second half forcing nine Bulldog turnovers, however, UMD would outscore MSU, 30-20 in the half securing the 65-44 victory.  The Mavericks were led by Weber who finished the night with nine points and seven rebounds.  In the first meeting of the season between the two schools on Jan. 21, Minnesota Duluth held on to win 56-54 despite a late comeback attempt by the Mavericks.  The Bulldogs controlled the first half, leading by as much as 21 with 3:10 remaining, as they went into the break with a 30-14 lead.  However, MSU shot 57.1 percent from the field in the second half and was able to tie the game at 54 with just under a minute remaining.  The Bulldogs would make what turned out to be the game winner with 19.1 seconds left as Shelly Stemper’s layup gave UMD the 56-54 lead where the score would remain as a last-second three-point attempt by Davis fell short.  Davis led the Mavericks in the loss with 15 points while two other Mavericks reached double figures including Jamie Bresnahan with 13 and Weber with 12.

Scouting the Bulldogs: The Bulldogs, coached by Annette Wiles, are led by three players averaging double figures as Katrina Newman leads the way with 14.3 points per game which is sixth-best in the NSIC.  Newman also leads the team with 8.2 rebounds per contest which ranks third in the conference.  Second on the team in scoring is Courtney Doucette with 12.8 ppg who also averages the sixth-most assists per game in the conference at 3.1 per game.  Doucette has made 65 three pointers, second-most in the NSIC, while connecting on 80.4 percent of her free-throw attempts.  The final Bulldog averaging double-digit scoring is Shelly Stemper who scores 11.6 ppg while pulling down 5.0 rebounds per contest.  Having connected on 90-of-114 free-throw attempts, Stemper’s 78.9 percentage from the charity stripe ranks tenth-best in the NSIC.  UMD ranks seventh in the conference averaging 66.2 points per game while allowing opponents 58.3 points per contest which is third-best in the NSIC.  As a team the Bulldogs are connecting on 38.3 percent of their shots while allowing opponents a 36.7 shooting percentage.

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