Mankato, Minn. --- The Minnesota State women's basketball team will travel up to St. Paul, Minn. Tuesday, to take on the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. at the Gangelhoff Center. 

From Last Week: Last weekend MSU went 1-1 at Taylor Center as it defeated Bemidji State on Friday, 82-71, before falling at the buzzer in overtime to Minnesota Crookston, 91-90.

In the win over BSU, sophomore forward Claire Ziegler [Mankato, Minn.] had arguably her best game in a Maverick uniform yet. The Mankato East product notched a dominate "20-20" performance against the Beavers, as she finished the game with 20 points and 22 rebounds on 9-of-13 shooting. Three other MSU players finished the game in double-figures  as well. Junior forward Karina Schroeder [Lake Crytsal, Minn.] collected 15 points and six rebounds on 7-of-9 shooting, while junior point guard Britney Scherber [Bloomington, Minn.] also tallied 15 points in the win. Lastly, sophomore guard Claire Jordan [Green Bay, Wis.] added 14 points, three assists and two rebounds.

On Saturday against Minnesota Crookston, MSU suffered a tough buzzer beating loss to UMC in overtime. It looked as though the Mavericks may have won the game, as Claire Ziegler sunk a shot in the lane to give MSU a, 90-89, lead with 0.9 seconds left on the clock. However, after a UMC timeout, the Golden Eagles executed nicely a lob pass from the sideline and converted on the layup as the buzzer sounded.

The game saw nine lead changes and nine ties, as the Golden Eagles largest lead was a 10 point margin midway through the second and the Mavericks largest lead was a four point lead late in the third. Both teams also shot very well from the field, as MSU connected on 44% of its shots, including 9-of-22 from beyond the arc, while UMC ended the game nailing 47% of its shots.

Claire Ziegler concluded her banner weekend with 29 points and eight rebounds on 13-of-18 shooting against UMC. Britney Scherber, senior center McKenzie Hoelmenn [Lakeville, Minn.],  sophomore guard Madison Lee [Coon Rapids, Minn.] and freshman guard Taylor Paulsrud all tallied 12 points apiece in the loss. Hoelmenn also added 11 rebounds in the loss, which marks as her fourth double-double of the season, while Scherber collected a team-high four assists.

Concerning Concordia-St. Paul: The Golden Bears enter the week with a 7-10 overall record and a 3-8 record in NSIC play, after winning both of its games last weekend against Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State. CU is coached by interim head coach Amanda Behnke.

Tuesday's matchup will mark as the 29th all-time meeting between the Mavericks and Golden Bears, as MSU has compiled a 13-15 all-time record against CU. Earlier this season the two teams took on each other in Mankato, Minn, where it saw the Mavericks prevail in a high scoring affair. MSU won the game, 92-87, over CU as Claire Ziegler and Britney Scherber combined to score 56 points in the win. Ziegler set a new-career high of 29 points, along with 13 rebounds in the win that helped her not only win NSIC South Divison Player of the Week honors, but was also named U.S. Basketball Writers Association Women's Division II National Player of the Week. Scherber also had an impressive perfomance in the win as she finished one shy of tying her career-high with 26 points. The junior point guard drained four three-pointers in the win and connected on 10-of-12 of her free throw attempts.

Board play and getting to the free-thow line played a key role for the Mavericks. MSU dominated the boards all game as it pulled down 57 rebounds, while CU grabbed 35. At the free-thow line, MSU hit 20-of-28 of its attempts, while CU went to the line just nine times and went 6-of-9 from the line.

This season the Golden Bears currently rank third in the NSIC in scoring offense with 75 points a game and rank second to last in the conference in scoring defense as opponents are averaging 76 points per game. CU is shooting 41% from the field which is sixth best in the NSIC and its opponents are shooting 42%. The Golden Bears struggle shooting the three ball as they average 27% from beyond the arc, while their opponents average 36%, which ranks them dead last in the NSIC. From the line, CU averages 69% which ranks 14th in the NSIC.

On the boards, CU falls in the middle of the pack in the NSIC as they average 40 rebounds per game and own a -1.1 rebounding margin. The Golden Bears also rank fourth in the conference in steals per game with 8.53 and sixth in turnover margin, +2.18.

Freshman point guard Anna Schmitt leads the Golden Bears in scoring  with 15.6 points per game and is shooting 49% from the field, which ranks her sixth and seventh in the NSIC, respectively. Schmitt also dishes out 3.9 assists a game and team leading 32.1 minutes per game. Sophomore guard Lauren Shifflett ranks second on the team in scoring with 13.9 points a game and leads the team with 32 made three-pointers. 

Two other players for CU averages double-digits in juniors Mishayla Jones and Caitlyn Russell. Jones averages 11.8 points and 3.9 assists a game, while Russell averages 11.4 points a game and leads the team with 21 blocks on the season. The Golden Bears also have the conference's best rebounder in sophomore Kyrah Fredenburg, who is averaging 10.6 rebounds a game.
 
"20-20" Performace: Digging deeper into sophomore Claire Ziegler's "20-20" performance against Bemidij State, she finished just three rebounds away from matching MSU's single-game record. Back in the 1978-79 season, Mary Manderfield notched 25 rebounds against Moorhead. Also this is the first "20-20" performance at MSU in at least the last 12 years.

Other Impressive Performances: Sophomore Claire Jordan set a new career-high 14 points against Bemidji State, while in that same game, junior Karina Schroeder set a new season-high with 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting.

Bench Production: Since the "New Year", the Mavericks bench has been averaging 25 points a game, while their opponents bench are averaging just 16 points a contest. On January 3rd against Minnesota Duluth, the bench tallied a season-high 42 points, which played a key role in the Mavericks win.

Leading Scorers: Through 15 games, the Mavericks have two players averaging 10 points or more in sophomore Claire Ziegler and junior Britney Scherber. Ziegler now leads the team in scoring with 14.7 points a game, after averaging 24.5 points this weekend, while Scherber sits second on the team with 14.4 points a contest. Ziegler currently ranks seventh in the NSIC in scoring and Scherber places not too far away in 11th.

Rebounding Attack: Three Mavericks are averaging six or more rebounds a contest through 15 games this season. Sophomore Claire Ziegler leads the team with 8.7 rebounds a game and ranks third in the NSIC. Senior McKenzie Hoelmenn sits second on the team with 8.1 rebounds each game, which places her fifth in the NSIC. Rounding out the trio is junior Karina Schroeder as she is averaging 6.3 per contest.

Efficient Shooting: Sophomore forward Claire Ziegler leads MSU with a 55% field-goal percentage which is a NSIC best.

At the Charity Stripe: Junior point guard Britney Scherber is shooting 83% from the free-throw line, which ranks her fifth in the NSIC. For her career, Scherber is averaging 80% from the line.