SIOUX FALLS— The No. 18 University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball team (9-2, 3-2) will look to have twenty-twenty vision, after dropping their weekend series at home, of their final two games before 2020 when the Truman State Bulldogs come to the Stewart Center on Wednesday, and the Cougars travel to Marshall, Minn., to take on travel partner Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday.

The Cougars' matchup with Truman State, a member of the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC (NCAA Midwest Region)), will mark the end of non-conference play for the Cougars, and Saturday's game will be the Cougars' sixth Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game, as well as the second and final matchup between the Cougars and Mustangs of the 2019-20 regular season.

The Rundown (2019 Record)-
Wed., Dec. 18, 7 p.m. vs Truman State Bulldogs (5-2, 1-0 GLVC)
Sat., Dec. 21, 2 p.m. at Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs (5-5, 0-5 NSIC)

Truman State Bulldogs (5-2, 1-0 GLVC)-
Since leaving the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) prior to the 2013-14 season, the Bulldogs have made the best of being a member of the GLVC. The 2019-20 season has been no different, as interim head coach Theo Dean took the reigns of the Bulldogs program, following the departure of former head coach Amy Eagan in August.

Under Coach Dean, the Bulldogs have put together a respectable 5-2 record, with their only two losses of the season coming to Augustana and the Central Missouri Jennies. In their previous game, the Bulldogs trounced the Quincy Hawks by 20 to start GLVC action. 

Leading the Bulldogs on the offense is Sloane Totta who has averaged 12.7 points per game. The Bulldogs have been a force to be reckoned with though, as three other players have averaged double-digits in Hannah Belanger (10.7), Katey Klucking (10.7), and Katie Kaseckas (10.0). Also wreaking havoc against opponents is Maddie Re, who has collected 76 rebounds, with 23 of those coming on the offensive end.

Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs (5-5, 0-5 NSIC)-
The last time the Cougars and Mustangs met, SMSU was a perfect 3-0 and the Cougars as well. The Cougars chased the Mustangs out of the Stewart Center with an 100-77 victory. The loss started a 2-5 skid that SMSU is currently on. Outside of a three-point overtime loss to Concordia-St. Paul, the Mustangs have been outscored by 11-plus points in all five games they have played this year.

The fourth-year head coach Tom Webb-led squad has been paced offensively by Meleah Reinhart who has scored 155 points in 10 games (15.5 points per game), which includes a 53-for-58 mark at the charity stripe. Jenna Borchers and Sadie Stelter joins Reinhart with a double-digit scoring average at 13.1 and 10.7 points per game, respectively.

Sioux Falls Cougars (9-2, 3-2 NSIC)-
The No. 18 Cougars had their best start to a season since Travis Traphagen took over the program in 2008-09. Before the weekend's pair of losses, USF had a perfect 9-0, 3-0 record, collecting two quality wins over current Top 25 teams, defeating No. 23 Emporia State at home 77-68 then taking on No. 20 Hawai'i Pacific in their home court in Honolulu in their second game of the Malika Sports Tour Oahu Thanksgiving Classic.

USF battled with Hawai'i Pacific during the Thanksgiving Classic, having the game come down to the wire. Tied 77-77 with six seconds to go, senior guard Mariah Szymanski got the inbound on the wing, and drove to the basket for the game-winning buzzer-beater.

In other action, the Cougars started the season with their own classic, hosting Bemidji State (whom USF did not play), Chadron State, and William Jewell. The first game of the season for USF defeated the Cardinals of William Jewell, 77-62, the Cougars made quick work of Chadron State 81-45.

The Cougars had an early conference match at home with SMSU, a game that got out of hand quickly in favor of USF, with Sioux Falls eclipsing the century mark in a 100-77 thrashing of the Mustangs. Hummel led USF with 23 points while Anna Goodhope provided 22.

The Cougars had a tough pair of road matchups in Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State. Previous NSIC South Player of the Week and graduate student forward, Jacey Huinker, led the way in the games by averaging a double-double on the weekend (11.5 points and 11 rebounds per game). Huinker also set a career-high in rebounds against the Mavericks, collecting 16 rebounds and was named the NSIC Player of the Week for the first time in her career.

Along with Huinker's career-night in rebounds against Minnesota State, senior Guard Augusta Thramer had a night to remember at the Taylor Center, setting a career-high in points (20 (previously 15, vs. MSU Moorhead in 2018 NSIC Tournament)), free throw attempts (11 (previously 10, vs. Minnesota State on Feb. 17, 2018)), and tied her career-high in free throws made (9 (last done vs. Minnesota State on Feb. 17, 2018)).

The Cougars will look to right the ship after their last weekend of action, as aforementioned was a pair of hard losses to Duluth and St. Cloud State.

Hummel, Syzmanski moving up all-time charts; Goodhope surpasses 500 career points
Senior guard Kaely Hummel continues her move up the all-time scoring chart and has 1,372 points in 101 games (100 starts) and is eight points from seventh on USF's all-time scoring chart.  eighth all-time at USF. Ahead of Hummel is Taylor Varsho, 7th, 1,379, 2014-16, 89 games; Dawn Morrison, 6th, 1,398, 1999-94, 111 games; Laura Johnson, 5th, 1,402, 2010-14; 115 games; Shelley Fauth, 4th, 1,475, 1982-86, 85 games; Patti Ibis, 3rd, 1,731, 1986-90, 109 games; Janna Austin, second, 1,930, 1992-96, 110 games; and Courtney Farrell, 1st, 2,433 points, 2002-05, 121 games. Hummel has 74 double digit scoring games in her career with nine in 11 games in 2019-20.  She has a season-high of 27 points against Hawai'i Pacific when she tied her career best with six threes. Hummel, who career high is 29 in 2017-18 against Minnesota Crookston, has four games over 20 points (21, 23, 23, 27) this season and 20 in her career. In addition, she now has 222 career threes which is third all-time at USF. She only trails Taylor Varsho (2014-16) with 245 and all-time leader Laura Johnson (2010-14) with 259.

Senior guard Mariah Szymanski recently surpassed 900 career points in the weekend road trip to Minnesota last weekend and with a combined 25 last weekend against UMD and SCSU  has 930 in her career. She also hit three treys and has 141 in her career for eighth on USF's 3-point career chart. Szymanski, who has 10 20-point games and four games of 30 or more (career-best 43 vs. Concordia St. Paul in 2017-18), has a team-high nine straight games in double digit points with a high of 16 this year. 

Junior Anna Goodhope, who is averaging 12.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, has surpassed 500 career points with 517 (105 with NDSU and 412 at USF). She has 58 threes at USF and 78 (20 at NDSU in 2016-17)