SIOUX FALLS – In the final two games of a four-game road trip, University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball squares off with the top two teams in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference north division in a pair of key league matchups. The Cougars (13-5, 10-4 NSIC) take a four-game winning streak into Friday's game at Northern State (16-4, 11-3 NSIC), which will tip at 6 p.m. as part of NSIC Day on January 26, and be televised on Midco Sports Network (Sioux Falls stations – HD: Channel 622; SD: Channel 26). In the final game of their four-game road swing, USF faces NSIC north division leader MSU Moorhead (15-3, 12-2 NSIC) on Saturday, January 27.
 
Don't miss any of the action
Radio for this weekend's USF Women's Basketball games is available at KWSN AM 1230 or KWSN.com with longtime play-by-play announcer Tom Frederick on the call. Pregame show starts 20 minutes before tip and includes a preview with USF head coach Travis Traphagen. Keep up with USF Women's Basketball on all of their social media platforms by visiting the USF Social Media Directory. All of USF's home games and NSIC contests are streamed for free through Stretch Internet and can be viewed at usfcougars.com/watch. Live stats for all home games are available at usfcougars.com/livestats and links to away games are available on the 2017-18 USF Women's Basketball Schedule.
 
Cougar quick hits

• With a win, USF is guaranteed to finish with a winning record for the fourth consecutive season
• All three teams (USF, NSU, MSUM) are ranked in the top five of the NSIC of scoring offense (points per game)
• Accounting for pace, NSU is second in the league, averaging 1.07 points per possession, MSUM is fourth at 1.05 ppp and USF is seventh at 0.97 ppp
• Sioux Falls is ranked third in scoring defense, allowing just 59.1 points per contest, and second in defensive efficiency, allowing 0.84 points per possession (MSUM ranks sixth at 0.88 and NSU is eighth at 0.90 points per possession)
• Sioux Falls brings in a four-game winning streak in which they have shot above 40 percent in all four games while holding their opponents below 30 percent in three of the four games and below 40 in all four
• USF is second in the NSIC with 8.6 made 3-pointers per game and they are averaging 8.75 over their four-game winnings streak with a three-point shooting percentage of 42.7, which is more than 9.2 percent higher than their season average (33.5 percent)
• The Cougars have held their opponents to just seven made 3-pointers over the last four games (7-for-54; 13.0 percent) and face Northern State on Friday, who makes a league-low 5.1 threes per game, but MSU Moorhead is third in the league with 7.9 made threes per game

 
Szymanski turns in game for the ages
Powering the Cougars to an 84-56 victory over Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday, sophomore shooting guard Mariah Szymanski poured in 43 points, breaking the 25-year-old USF Women's Basketball single game scoring record. A 5-foot-6 guard from Pulaski, Wis., Szymanski shot 14-of-20 from the field, breaking the USF D2 record for field goals in a game, and was 9-for-10 on 3-pointers, breaking the all-time USF record for three-point field goals in a game and three-point field goal percentage. With an and-one finish on the first possession of the second quarter, Szymanski had reached 20 points in just 10:09 of game times. She and teammate Kaely Hummel scored the Cougars' first 32 points of the game as USF held a 32-19 lead over CSP. Szymanski earned NSIC Player of the Week honors for her accomplishment, which included the highest single game scoring total for any NSIC women's basketball player this season and it tied the highest scored by a Division II women's basketball player this year.
 
Hummel continues special sophomore season
As the top returning scorer from USF's 22-win team in 2016-17, sophomore Kaely Hummel's scoring load was expected to increase and she has lived up to her billing as Sioux Falls's preseason player to watch. Not only does she lead the Cougars with 16.9 points per game (up from 8.0 ppg her freshman year), the 5-foot-8 guard from Cherokee, Iowa ranks fourth in the NSIC and has scored in double figures all 18 games this season. She has surpassed 20 points six times this year, including a career-high 29 against Minnesota Crookston. Hummel has become a more balanced scorer this year as well – 66 percent of her field goal attempts were 3-pointers last season while this year she has already taken 31 more field goal attempts overall, but only 48 percent of them have been from behind the arc. With her increase in two-point attempts, Hummel is shooting 40.5 percent from the field – an increase from 37.0 last season – and she has attempted 32 more free throws. Getting to the line is key for Hummel and the Cougars as she is shooting 91.3 percent (42-for-46), which ranks second in the NSIC and would be top-15 in NCAA but she is just short of the minimum (2.5 made free throws per game).
 
Huinker notches second double-double, having historic season
The top rebounder for USF in all but one of the games in which she has played, junior forward Jacey Huinker is putting together an impressive season on the glass. Through 17 games – she missed one game and the second half of another due to injury – Huinker is averaging a team-high 10.4 rebounds, which ranks second in the NSIC and 19th in NCAA Division II. She has grabbed double-digit rebounds in 10 games this year and with 13 boards and 15 rebounds against Minnesota State on Friday night, she picked up her second career double-double. Despite the gaudy rebounding numbers for a 5-foot-9 Altoona, Iowa native, Huinker's impact has been critical for the Cougars' success. She is averaging a team-high 3.3 assists per game with an NSIC-leading 2.95 assist-to-turnover ratio that currently ranks fifth in NCAA Division II – she is the only forward in the top 35 of NCAA Division II.
 
Duffy emerges as NSIC blocked shots leader, approaching USF records
As USF's lone senior this season, 6-foot forward/center Moira Duffy has taken on a major role in the post and her shot-blocking ability has shined. The Rapid City, S.D. native has 50 blocked shots this year for an NSIC-leading 2.8 blocked shots per game. Her average ranks 15th in NCAA Division II and her season total is already fourth in USF's single-season Division II record books. Her current average would break former All-American Sam Knecht's record of 2.2 set last season. For the single season record, Duffy is 15 shy of Knecht's USF DII era record of 65 set during the 2016-17 record.
 
Series Histories
                  vs. Northern State – NSU leads 4-3
A burgeoning rivalry has grown over the past two seasons between Sioux Falls and Northern State with each team beating the other in either the semifinals or final of the NSIC/Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament. Northern State took a 4-3 series lead when they defeated USF, 55-52, in last year's NSIC Tournament title game. The Wolves won the first meeting, 54-48, on Jan. 19, 2013 then took the 2013-14 meeting, 64-57. USF reeled off three straight victories, including two in the 2015-16 season as part of their NSIC Tournament championship campaign. The only game in the seven-game series to be decided by double-digit points was USF's 82-65 victory at Northern State on Jan. 16, 2016. The Cougars topped the Wolves in the NSIC Tournament semis, 71-63, and would win the tournament title the next night. Last season, NSU edged the Cougars, 63-62, in the Stewart Center in the regular season then again, 55-52, in the NSIC Tournament title game. The Cougars are 1-1 when playing at NSU's Wachs Arena with a 2-3 record against the Wolves during regular season NSIC competition.
 
                  vs. MSU Moorhead – MSUM leads 4-3
Another program with which USF has a postseason background, the Cougars have closed the gap in their series with MSU Moorhead, but the Dragons still hold a 4-3 lead entering the weekend. Last season, Sioux Falls handed MSUM two of their five losses, including one of their two conference losses as the Dragons went on to win the NSIC regular season title. In the quarterfinals of the NSIC Tournament last year, USF knocked off top-seeded MSU Moorhead, 54-45. In the regular season, the Cougars defeated MSUM, 66-61. The Dragons took the first three victories in the series, including a 73-65 victory in the first meeting on Jan. 18, 2013. USF also suffered their first postseason loss as members of the NSIC to MSU Moorhead when the Dragons defeated Sioux Falls, 62-50, in the first round of the 2013 NSIC Tournament. Despite the recent success against MSU Moorhead, USF is still searching for their first win at MSU Moorhead's Nemzek Fieldhouse as they enter Saturday's game with an 0-3 record in Moorhead, Minn.
 
Cougars picked 10th in NSIC preseason poll, sixth in south division
USF was picked to finish 10th by the league coaches in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference preseason coaches' poll. The Cougars picked up 123 points in the poll, just three points from eighth. MSU Moorhead was tabbed the overall favorite while Northern State and Augustana each received first-place votes. In the eight-team south division poll, USF was picked sixth and Augustana earned the top spot. The past two seasons, USF has outperformed their preseason billing, placing second in 2015-16 and taking fifth in 2016-17 after they were picked ninth.