SIOUX FALLS— With a solid start to the season, the University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball Team (5-1, 1-0 NSIC) will host Concordia-St. Paul (4-2, 0-1 NSIC) on Friday, Dec. 7 at 5:30 p.m., in its Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference NSIC) home opener.  USF will then turn around and host Minnesota State (4-1, 1-0 NSIC) on Saturday, Dec. 8 at 4 p.m.

Breaking Down the Opponents
Concordia St. Paul, which opened the NSIC season with an 83-60 road loss to Minnesota State, has opened with four wins in six starts. CSP, directed by head coach Amanda Johnson, also lost to Harding (Ark.), 59-54. They also defeated Washburn (Kan.), 61-59, Wisconsin Superior, 95-58, and Northern Michigan, 63-61 as well as Jamestown, 76-59. Lindsey Dorr leads CSP with 20.8 points and 9.2 rebounds per game while Anna Schmitt, who ranks third all-time at CSP with 1,637 points, is providing 14.0 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.  She could move into second all-time at CSP with 11 points (Jennifer Pozzani, 1,647, 2001-05).

Minnesota State, which is led by head coach Emily Thiesse, has opened the season at 4-1 with an 83-60 NSIC home win over Concordia St. Paul. MSU, which lost, 71-51, to Northern Michigan, has wins over Waldorf (93-66); Michigan Tech (72-68); Bethany Lutheran (98-46) and CSP. Taylor Drost leads the team in scoring with 10.8 points and 2.8 rebounds with Monica Muth contributing 10.0 points and 4.2 rebounds. Drost is hitting 54.5 percent from three-point range (6-of-11) while Muth is at 47.6 percent (10-of-21) from distance.

USF's last matchup
In their last contest against SMSU on Saturday (Dec. 1), freshman forward Krystal Carlson scored a career-high 20 points to lead USF to their 11th straight victory over the Golden Bears. USF used double-digit scoring performances from Carlson and junior Kaely Hummel to open the league schedule with a road win.  Carlson, who reached double-digits in points for a third straight game, hit 9-of-15 shots from the field and both of her free throws while grabbing four rebounds in her career-best 20-point performance. Hummel, who reached double digits for the 58th time in her career, was 5-of-12 from the floor, had three rebounds and recorded a steal.

USF also had a big effort from freshman point guard Hannah Jones, who had eight points, eight rebounds and three assists without a turnover in 24 minutes.

USF, which forced 15 turnovers and had 10 steals, also had seven points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks from sophomore Anna Goodhope. Junior Guard Jessie Geer had eight points and a game-best and season-high five steals.

Don't miss any of the action
Longtime USF play-by-play announcer Tom Frederick will provide the call over KWSN 1230 AM. 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.

Hummel leading USF in scoring at 12.8 points per game
USF, which has received consideration in the D2SIDA and WBCA national polls, has shot 42.8 percent from the field (172-of-402), which ranks fourth in the NSIC. From three-point distance, USF has made 53 on 164 attempts for a 32.3 three-point percentage, which ranks seventh in the league. USF has outscored their opponents 475-to-309 while also outrebounding their opponents by 50 (251-to-201). The Cougars rank third in the NSIC in scoring at 79.2 points per game and sit at the top of the defensive scoring list as they have allowed 51.5 points per game. Additionally, USF is first in the NSIC with a 27.7 scoring margin over opponents. In defensive stats, USF is third in field goal percentage defense at 34.6 percent and rank fourth in the league in three-point percentage defense at 23.9 percent.   Hummel leads the team in scoring at 12.8 points per game on 41.2 percent shooting (28-for-68) from the field. Hummel has recorded 58 total double-digit scoring games in her career with five so far this season, and has also accumulated 780 career points. Carlson is second on the team in scoring averaging 8.7 points per game while shooting 56.4 percent (22-for-39) from the field. Carlson has also averaged 3.5 rebounds per game through six contests. Mariah Szymanski is third on the team in scoring at 7.7 points per game while shooting at a 33.3 percent clip. She also has accumulated 17 total rebounds, 13 assists and eight steals on the season. She a career-high 29 points against Minnesota Crookston on Jan. 13, 2018 at the Stewart Center. In USF's DII era, she ranks fifth in scoring with her 780 points and third with 130 made three-pointers. This season she has a high of 18 points against Presentation College on Nov. 27.

Junior guard Mariah Szymanski is averaging 7.7 points and 2.8 rebounds for USF with four starts in six games. She has two double-digit scoring games with a high of 13 points in a win over South Dakota Mines on Nov. 16. She now has 20 career double-digit scoring games with 10 of 15 points or more and seven 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.

Freshman guard Hanna Jones, who is scoring 7.2 points per game, leads the team in rebounds with 6.3 per game and 38 total on the year. Junior forward Gloria Mulumba, who is averaging 7.0 points per game, is second on the team in rebounding with 4.3 per game and 26 on the season.

Lauren Sanders has also had an efficient start to the season, scoring 6.5 points per game while shooting 56.5 percent from the field (13-for-23) 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.

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.  

Series Histories
CSP leads series with USF, 8-4
After a winless streak of six games against Concordia-St. Paul, the Cougars have won four of the last seven meetings with the Golden Bears. USF earned their first victory over CSP with a double-overtime 87-79 win on Feb. 21 of 2015. In their 2016 contest, Mariah Szymanski scored a USF record 43 points and led the Cougars to an 84-56 win. In their last meeting, USF fell to the Golden Bears, 74-56. At home, the Cougars are 2-4 against Concordia-St. Paul.

USF leads series with Minnesota State, 7-5
Before dropping a heartbreaking, 61-60 home loss last season to MSU, USF had extended their winning streak against the Mavericks to six straight games. The Cougars won the first meeting, 77-64, at Minnesota State on Dec. 15, 2012, before dropping the next four contests. Since then, USF has won six-of-seven contests against MSU, which has featured four double-digit wins and three victories in four games at home. Inside the Stewart Center, USF is 4-2 against Minnesota State.

Traphagen leads USF Program
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 199-104 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.