SIOUX FALLS – With a home conference tournament game all but clinched, University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball closes the regular season with a pair of home games. The Cougars (14-10, 11-9 NSIC) host Concordia-St. Paul (9-17, 6-14 NSIC) at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 16 in a game that will be broadcast live on Midco Sports Network. Honoring senior Moira Duffy in the final regular season game, USF hosts Minnesota State (10-16, 8-12 NSIC) on Saturday, Feb. 17 with tip-off set for 4 p.m.
 
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. Friday's game against Concordia-St. Paul will be featured on Midco Sports Network live. All of USF's home games and NSIC contests are streamed for free through Stretch Internet and can be viewed at usfcougars.com/watch. Keep up with USF Women's Basketball on all of their social media platforms by visiting the USF Social Media Directory at usfcougars.com/socialmedia. 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.
 
USF upsets No. 5 Augustana on the road, secures fourth straight winning season
Behind a stout defensive effort and clutch baskets, USF recorded their biggest upset victory of their NCAA Division II era with a 64-59 overtime victory at city rival and then-No. 5 Augustana last Friday night. The Cougars held AU to their lowest scoring total of the season, even after the extra five minutes of overtime, and the Vikings' 26.7 percent shooting, was the second lowest for a USF opponent this season. Mariah Szymanski picked up where she left off against Augustana, scoring 23 points in the victory after she posted 31 against the Vikings earlier in the season. Kaely Hummel scored 13, including three late free throws to help the Cougars ice the game. Freshman Amanda Dagostino came up big, playing 22 minutes after she had totaled just 14 in her previous eight appearances before the game against Augustana. She recorded seven rebounds and scored two big baskets, the game-tying layup in regulation and the goa-ahead basket in overtime.
 
The victory was not only sweet since it came over their city rivals, but it also secured USF a winning record for the fourth consecutive season. With just two upperclassmen returning and two starters back from their NSIC Tournament finalist team a season ago, USF was picked 10th in the NSIC preseason poll, sixth in the NSIC south division. With an 11-9 conference record this year, the Cougars are guaranteed to finish no worse than ninth, the third consecutive season in which USF has outperformed their preseason ranking in the conference coaches' poll.
 
Cougar quick hits

• USF can clinch a first round home playoff game with a victory in either game this weekend or a loss by University of Mary
• The Cougars enter the weekend with the fourth-best scoring defense in the NSIC, holding opponents to 61.6 points per game
• Concordia-St. Paul (70.1 ppg allowed) and Minnesota State (68.0 ppg allowed) both rank in the bottom half of the league in scoring defense at 14th and 11th, respectively
• Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State both play at some of the faster paces in the league (pace is possessions per game) while the Cougars rank in the middle of the league with an average of 69 possessions per game
• CSP is fourth in the NSIC, averaging 71 possessions per game, yet they rank 13th in the league with 62.7 points per game, an offensive rating (points per possession) of 0.88, the No. 14 mark in the NSIC
• MSU is the second-fastest team in the league in terms of pace, averaging 74 possessions per game while scoring the seventh-most points per game at 66.8 per contest among NSIC teams, for a 0.90 offensive rating, the No. 11 mark in the league
• The Cougars' scoring average of 65.4 points per game is the 11th-best in the league and when accounting for pace, they own an offensive rating of 0.95, which is eighth in the NSIC
• Helping the Cougars keep up their offensive efficiency is their reliance on three-point field goals, a stat in which they rank second in the league with 8.1 made threes per game
• Three USF players rank in the top 10 of made 3-pointers per game, including two in the top five; Kaely Hummel is second in the league with 2.5 made threes per game, Mariah Szymanski is fifth at 2.0 per game and Lauren Sanders is eighth with 1.8 per contest
• Hummel has scored in double figures all 24 games this season and she is averaging 16.1 per contest, which ranks fifth in the NSIC, and she has six 20-points games this year, seven in her career
• Hummel has scored 386 points this season, which ranks sixth in USF's DII history for points in a season and she is just two points from the top five and 33 away from moving past Sam Knecht's No. 4 mark of 419 points set last season
• The last time sophomore guard Mariah Szymanski faced Concordia-St. Paul, she scored a USF record with 43 points, which is also tied for the most by a Division II women's basketball player this year
• Scymanski was 9-for-10 from three, making her final six attempts, which set USF records for most made 3-pointers in a game and three-point percentage (90%)
• Syzmanski has four 20-point games in her career and twice she has gone over 30 (43 at CSP on Jan. 20; 31 vs. Augustana on Dec. 31)
• Jacey Huinker's all-around play is another reason the Cougars have a found success on offense as the junior forward is leading the Cougars with 74 assists this year, an average of 3.2 per game
• Huinker's assist numbers are even more impressive when facotring in her assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.55, which leads the NSIC and is 10th in NCAA Division II
• Huinker is also one of the top rebounders in the country with an average of 10.1 rebounds per game, which is second in the NSIC and 28th in Division II
• Senior Moira Duffy leads the NSIC and ranks 12th in NCAA Division II with 72 total blocks and 3.0 per game
• Duffy has blocked multiple shots in her last 10 games and she has blocked three-or-more shots in a game 12 times this year
• The last time USF faced Minnesota State, Duffy blocked seven shots and she blocked three more the next night against Concordia-St. Paul
• Sophomore guard Augusta Thramer has scored in double figures six times in her career with four of those 10-plus point efforts coming in the last five contests
• Last weekend, Thramer scored 11 against Augustana and 13 at Wayne State, helping the Cougars erase a 10-point deficit to take a lead
• Thramer is also second on the Cougars with 70 assists, a 2.9 per game average

 
Series Histories
               vs. Concordia-St. Paul – CSP leads series 8-4
After a winless streak of six games against Concordia-St. Paul, the Cougars have won four of the last six 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 the last meeting, Mariah Szymanski scored a USF record 43 points and led the Cougars to an 84-56 win. At home, the Cougars are 2-3 against Concordia-St. Paul, winning two of the last three meetings
 
               vs. Minnesota State – USF leads 7-4
Holding on for a 74-71 victory at Minnesota State earlier this season, Sioux Falls 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's six-game winnings streak against MSU has featured four double-digit wins and three straight at home. Inside the Stewart Center, USF is 4-1 against Minnesota State, dropping the only game against the Mavericks in 2014.
 
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.