SIOUX FALLS — The University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball Team (7-1, 3-0 NSIC), which has won six straight games, will look to continue a fast start to the season as they travel to face Minnesota Duluth (3-2, 2-1 NSIC) on Friday, Dec. 14 at 5:30 p.m., in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) action. USF will then turn around and play St. Cloud State (4-3, 1-2 NSIC) on Saturday, Dec. 8 at 4 p.m., in St. Cloud, Minn.
 
USF's has won six straight
This past weekend, the Cougars sweep Concordia-St. Paul, 83-74; and Minnesota State, 80-68 to run their winning streak to six games. USF, which has nine players averaging at least 12 minutes per game, ranks second in the NSIC in scoring at 79.8 points per game and rank second in the league in scoring defense at 56.4 points per game. The Cougars also sit third in the NSIC in field goal shooting at 43.8 percent. With seven players averaging 5.1 points or more, USF has had around 32 points per game off the bench.
 
In their last contest against Minnesota State on Saturday (Dec. 8), junior guards Mariah Szymanski and Kaely Hummel, each scored 20 points to lead USF to an 80-68 victory. The Cougars stayed in a tie at the top of the NSIC with a third straight league win to open the season. A night after recording his 200th win, USF head coach Travis Traphagen added one to his career total as the Cougars rallied to earn the their seventh win in eight starts this season.

Hummel, who had a team-high four assists, had 20 points for the second straight night as she made 6-of-13 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point range. Hummel recorded her 60th double-digit scoring game of her career and increased her career point total to 825. Syzmanski, who reached double-digits for the fourth time this season, reached 20 points for the first time this season. She made 7-of-14 shots from the field and 2-of-6 from three-point range while grabbing three rebounds.  For the third time this season, freshman guard Hannah Jones reached double-digits with 11 points while grabbing a team-high five rebounds, dishing two assists and recording a steal.  Anna Goodhope had nine points, three rebounds and both an assist and steal in 20 minutes on the floor. In the win over CSP, Hummel had a season-high 25 points.
 
USF, which was picked to win the NSIC in a league preseason coaches' poll, is continuing to attract national attention. USF received votes in the most recent Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll which was released on Dec. 12. USF received 12 ballot points in the poll and finished just outside the top-25. USF's only ranking in the WBCA DII poll was in the 2015-16 season when the Cougars earned a No. 25 ranking.  Union (Tenn.) was the top team in the poll with 594 points and 18 first-place votes. They were followed by Indiana (Pa.) (8-0) with 563 points and three first-place votes with West Texas A&M (8-0) in third with 538 points and Drury (Mo.) (9-0), fourth, at 504 points.
 
Breaking Down the Opponents

UMD led by Sammy Koslowski with 14.4 points per game
Minnesota Duluth, which has held opponents to 39.5 percent from the field this season, is led by a senior guard Sammy Kozlowski, with 14.4 points (10^th, NSIC) and leads the team with 2.6 steals per game. Sarah Grow leads the team with 32 total rebounds (6.3 per game), 12 blocks (2.4 per game) and is second on the team in scoring averaging 9.8 points per contest. Mandy Pearson, who is 40-46 at UMD overall and 33-36 in NSIC play, leads the Bulldogs in her fourth year as head coach.  UMD has opened the season at 3-2 with wins over Northern Michigan, 51-45; St. Cloud State, 53042 and Minot State, 74-48 and losses to Drury, 70-58; and U-Mary, 82-76 on Dec. 8 in their most recent game. Sammy Koslowski had 25 points but U-Mary had 30 points from Gabbie Bohl and 22 points and 12 rebounds from Cassie Askvig. U-Mary led by 21 with 3:45 left in the third quarter before UMD rallied and outscored the Marauders, 31-21 in the final quarter.
 
SCSU is paced by Madelin Damman and Mallie Doucette
Lori Fish leads the Huskies in her 11^th season as head coach as St. Cloud State with a 153-128 record and is 215-181 overall in 15 seasons of coaching. SCSU, which has opened 4-3 and 1-2 in league play, is averaging 64 points a game while holding opponents to 55.1. Pacing SCSU's scoring efforts are Madelin Dammann (12.4 PPG) and Mallie Doucette (11.0 PPG) who are shooting a combined 42.1 percent from the field. Dammann is shooting a team-high of 48.5 percent (16-33) from three point land while Doucette follows at 31.0 percent (13-42). SCSU has defeated Valley City State, 68-56; Concordia (Ore.), 66-55; Northland, 97-29; and Minot State, 61-60. With 16 points from Damman, SCSU rallied from a nine-point third quarter deficit and with a 23-13 advantage in the final quarter picked up a close road win.
 
USF coming off weekend home sweep over CSP and MSU
In their last contest against MSU on Saturday (Dec. 8), junior guards Mariah Szymanski and Kaely Hummel, each scored 20 points to lead USF to an 80-68 victory over the Mavericks. The Cougars stayed in a tie at the top of the NSIC with a third straight league win to open the season. A night after recording his 200th win, USF head coach Travis Traphagen added one to his career total as the Cougars rallied to earn the their seventh win in eight starts this season. Hummel, who had a team-high four assists, had 20 points for the second straight night as she made 6-of-13 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point range. Syzmanski, who reached double-digits for the fourth time this season, reached 20 points for the first time this season. She made 7-of-14 shots from the field and 2-of-6 from three-point range while grabbing three rebounds. For the third time this season, freshman guard Hannah Jones reached double-digits with 11 points while grabbing a team-high five rebounds, dishing two assists and recording a steal.  Anna Goodhope had nine points, three rebounds and both an assist and steal in 20 minutes on the floor.
 
Don't miss any of the action
Radio for all USF Women's Basketball conference games are available at KWSN AM 1230 or KWSN.com with longtime USF play-by-play announcer Tom Frederick on the call. 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 2018-19 USF Women's Basketball Schedule.
 
Hummel and Szymanski averaging double digits for USF
Hummel, who was named second team All-NSIC a year ago and also was Academic All-NSIC, leads the team in scoring at 15.3 points per game on 43.2 percent shooting (41-for-95) from the field. Hummel has recorded 46 total double-digit scoring games in her career with seven so far this season, and has also accumulated 825 career points, which ranks fourth in USF's DII era.  She is three points away from passing Jaicee Ulmer (827, 2012-15) for third on USF's DII list.  She a career-high 29 points against Minnesota Crookston on Jan. 13, 2018 at the Stewart Center. In USF's DII era, she ranks second with 137 made three-pointers. In the win over MSU, she had four threes and passed Laura Johnson who had 135 from 2012-14.  USF's all-time three-point shot leader is Johnson with 259 from 2010-14 when she scored 1,402 points, which ranks fifth all-time. Taylor Varsho is USF's DII leader in points and three-pointers with 1,379 points, including 245 treys, from 2014-16.  USF's all-time points leader was Courtney Farrell with 2,433 points from 2002-05. She is the only USF player with 2000 points in her career.
 
Szymanski, who was named second team All-NSIC a year ago, is second on the team in scoring at 10.0 points per game while shooting at a 40.9 percent clip. She also has accumulated 23 total rebounds, 14 assists and 10 steals on the season. She has accumulated 22 career double-digit scoring games with 11 of 15 points or more and eight over 20 points. She set a school record with 43 points in a win over Concordia St. Paul on Jan. 20, 2018. In that game she also set a school record with nine made three-pointers in 10 attempts. In addition, she had a third record in the game with 14 made field goals in 20 attempts. Syzmanski has scored in 57 career games and has made two or more threes 26 times and 11 games or two or more made triples.
 
Individual Notes – Frosh Carlson and Jones both have three double-digit games
Freshman Krystal Carlson, who has three double digit games with a career-best 20 points against SMSU on Dec. 1, 2018, is third on the team in scoring, averaging 7.6 points per contest on 52.0 percent shooting (26-for-50). She has totaled 27 rebounds (3.4 per game), as well as three blocks this season.
 
Freshman guard Hanna Jones, who is scoring 7.1 points per game, leads the team in rebounds with 6.1 per game and 49 total on the year. She has three double digit scoring games with a career-high of 15 against Henderson State on Nov. 10 when she had her only career double double with 10 boards. She has hit 5-of-13 on treys for 38.5 percent and has 24 assists. Jones has at least one steal in seven of eight games and at least two assists in every game. She has a career-high five assists against Concordia St. Paul. In addition, she has had five or more rebounds seven times.
 
Junior forward Gloria Mulumba, who is averaging 7.4 points per game, is third on the team in rebounding with 3.6 per game and 29 on the season. Mulumba has two double digit scoring games with a career high of 17 points in a win over Concordia St. Paul on Dec. 7, 2018. In that game, she hit 8-of-11 field goals. She also has a career high of seven rebounds against Ouachita Baptist on Nov. 9 and five or more boards four times.

Sophomore forward Anna Goodhope is supplying 6.8 points and 4.4 rebounds per game for USF. Goodhope, who prepped at Sioux Falls Washington, has one double-digit scoring game with 11 points against South Dakota Mines on Nov. 16. She has scored at least seven points in a game five times and has a career-best 12 rebounds in a win over Concordia St. Paul on Dec. 7 at the Stewart Center. She has made at least one three-pointer in all eight games with a best of three against Minnesota State on Dec. 8.
 
Sophomore Lauren Sanders has also had an efficient start to the season, scoring 4.9 points per game while shooting 54.2 percent from the field (13-for-24) and 66.7 percent from beyond the arc (12-for-18). Sanders has accumulated nine double-digit scoring games in her career with two coming this season.
 
 Junior guard Augusta Thramer has totaled seven double-digit scoring games in her career and has continued to play a consistent role for the team. Thramer has a high of six points this year against Ouachita Baptist but has had seven rebounds in a game twice and six assists in the win over Chadron State on Nov. 17. In seven of eight games Thramer has at least one steal with a best of three against South Dakota Mines on Nov. 16, 2018. Eight times in her career, Thramer has reached double digits with a high of 17 against MSU Moorhead on Feb. 25, 2018 in the NSIC Tournament quarterfinals. She hit 6-of-10 field goals, collected seven rebounds and had three steals as USF won that game to advance to the tournament semifinals.
 
USF picked first in NSIC Preseason Poll
In the NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll, USF received 9-of-16 first place ballots and was the selected as the favorite to win the league. USF, which has never won an outright league crown in the NSIC, was also the favorite in the South Division Poll in which they received five of eight first place votes. 
 
USF leads UMD, 4-3, in all-time series
After three wins over Minnesota Duluth in the 2016 calendar year, the Cougars enter Saturday's matchup with UMD ahead 4-3 in the series. USF earned an 83-78 victory on Jan. 11, 2013, which was the first meeting between the two programs. Following a 69-59 loss on Jan. 10, 2014 in Duluth and a 70-65 setback on Jan. 30, 2015 at USF, the Cougars rebounded with a dominant 82-53 (Jan. 29, 2016) on the road as Taylor Varsho had 25 points with seven treys on 14 shots. They returned to the Stewart Center for a 66-50 victory in the first round of the NSIC Tournament on Feb. 24, 2016. Sam Knecht had 23 points and eight rebounds while Alison Klostergaard had 14 rebounds and seven assists. In 2016-17, Sioux Falls rolled to a 66-47 victory behind Knecht's 18-point, 18-rebound effort pm Dec. 10, 2016. In 2017-18, USF fell to UMD, 69-51, despite double-digit scoring efforts from Moira Duffy (10 points), Lauren Sanders (11 points), and Kaely Hummel (10 points). USF is 1-2 on the road and stand 3-3 in NSIC regular season games.
 
USF owns 7-2 all-time series lead with SCSU
with three straight wins over St. Cloud State, USF has extended their series lead to 7-2 over the Huskies. In the first matchup on Nov. 19, 2011, SCSU defeated USF 52-51 as Aaryn Booker made a layup with 23 seconds to play. Alyssa Rushton had 13 points and Jamey Hofer added nine points and 11 boards. A year later, USF returned the favor with a one-point decision of 57-56 over SCSU at the Stewart Center. Bailey Bouman had 13 points for USF. On Feb. 26, 2014, the Cougars registered a 75-68 win at Halenbeck Hall in St. Cloud, Minn., as Taylor Varsho had 15 points while Laura Johnson provided 11 points and seven rebounds while knocking down a trio of three-pointers. On Jan. 31, 2015, the Cougars defeated SCSU, 71-48, as Varsho had a double double of 17 points and 16 rebounds. However in the first of two times the teams have met in postseason, the Cougars dropped an 87-76 decision on Feb. 25, 2015 at Halenbeck Hall. Jaicee Ulmer and Taylor Varsho both scored 18 points and Marie Malloy had 10 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Since that loss, USF has three straight wins with an 80-68 decision as Teagan Molden had 17 points and five assists and made 5-of-8 from three-point range. Alison Klostergaard added 15 points and eight rebounds and Varsho had 17 points. In 2016-17, USF hosted the Huskies twice, winning the regular season matchup, 74-51, which featured Jacey Huinker grabbing 10 boards, scoring six points and finishing with three steals in the Dec. 9, 2016 victory. In the first round of the NSIC Tournament, the Cougars notched a 65-51 win over the Huskies as Andi Mataloni made five threes on Feb. 22, 2017. In last season's matchup on Dec. 8, 2018, USF beat the Huskies, 64-59 behind 26 points from Kaely Hummel. Jasmine Harris added 15 points of her own as USF shot 46.0 percent from the field.
 
Traphagen reaches and surpasses 200 career wins at USF
Travis Traphagen is in his 11th season as the head coach of the University of Sioux Falls women's basketball team. In his 10 seasons at the helm of the USF Women's Basketball program, Traphagen owns a 201-104 overall record, which makes him the school's career leader. He has led USF to four 20-win seasons and recorded back-to-back 20-win campaigns in 2015-16 and 2016-17. In 2015-16, he led the program to their first-ever NCAA Tournament berth in USF Women's Basketball history. Traphagen, who has directed USF to four straight winning seasons, has twice guided the Cougars to the NSIC Tournament title game. The 2015-16 team won the tournament to earn USF's first trip to the NCAA DII National Tournament. He has also led USF to the NSIC Tournament semifinals or better three straight years. Before his time at USF, he was the head assistant women's basketball coach at Augustana College (S.D.) since 2001. In his six years at Augustana, besides his on-court duties, Traphagen coordinated recruiting for the women's basketball program. Overall, Traphagen amassed a 111-69 record as an assistant coach at Augustana.  Traphagen and his wife, Ann, reside in Sioux Falls with their three children, Grayson, Riley and Luke.