SIOUX FALLS-- The University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball Team (17-7, 12-6 NSIC), which has won six-of-seven games, will wrap up its regular season home schedule as the Cougars host Winona State (13-9, 11-7 NSIC) at 5:30 p.m., on Friday (Feb. 15) and Upper Iowa (3-23, 0-18 NSIC) at 4 p.m., Saturday (Feb. 16) at the Stewart Center.
Last weekend (Feb. 8-9), the Cougars swept Northern State, 73-66, and North Division leader MSU Moorhead, 77-74 in road cross divisional play. With the victories, USF took over sole possession of second play in the NSIC South and trail leader Concordia St. Paul (17-6, 13-5 NSIC) by a game.
The Cougars, which have won four straight and six-of-seven games, took over sole possession of second place in the NSIC South. USF has shot over 50 percent from the field in three of the past four games.
USF is one of three league teams with current four-game or better win streaks. USF and Minnesota State have won four straight while Minnesota Duluth has a current league-best six straight wins. With four games to play in the regular season, USF ranks third in the NSIC in scoring at 71.8 points per game and stand second in scoring defense at 58.5 points per game.
The Cougars, which have held six opponents under 50 points, leads the league with a 6.42 turnover margin and rank second in assist turnover ratio at 1.2. USF is first in the NSIC in scoring margin and third in field goal percentage at 42.7 percent.
USF Trails WSU, 8-5 in all time series
USF has lost two straight to Winona State and trail 8-5 in the all-time series with the Warriors. On Jan. 26, 2019, in Winona, Minn., the Cougars had 15 points from Jessie Geer but dropped a 64-50 decision in the first regular season matchup of the year. In the second of two meetings in the 2017-18 season the Cougars dropped a 59-51 decision. USF's offense was led by Kaely Hummel with 14 points and Andi Mataloni with 12. In the first of two matchups in the 2017-18 campaign, Sioux Falls defeated the Warriors, 61-60, on Dec. 1 at the Stewart Center. In that victory Jasmine Harris had a career-high 22 points and hit the game-winning lay-up with one second to play. WSU defeated USF, 47-44, in the first meeting on Jan. 5, 2013, and the Cougars returned the favor with a 53-49 victory at home later that season. Seven of the 12 games have been separated by one possession and three of the last four games have been decided by one point. USF has lost a pair of three-point decisions in the first two road meetings before suffering three consecutive double-digit losses at WSU.
USF owns 12-1 series lead over UIU
Sioux Falls extended their winning streak to 10 straight victories over Upper Iowa with a 65-39 win over the Peacocks on Jan. 25. USF had 13 players score points in the game. USF, which now owns a 12-1 overall series lead, defeated UIU, 60-44 and 83-41 during the 2017-18 season. USF only loss in the series was a 78-75 setback in Fayette, Iowa on Dec. 14, 2013. The Cougars responded to the loss with 10 straight victories, which includes five road victories. The Cougars have won the last five games at Upper Iowa and are 6-1 in games hosted by the Peacocks.
Hummel ranks seventh in NSIC in scoring
Hummel ranks seventh in the league with 15.0 points per game. In USF's DII era, she ranks second with 176 made three-pointers and third in points with 1,063 points. Taylor Varsho is USF's DII leader in points and three-pointers with 1,379 points (7th, all-time at USF), including 245 treys from 2014-16. USF's career points leader is USF Hall of Famer Courtney Farrell with 2,433 points from 2002-05. In a win over MSUM on Feb. 9, Hummel scored 18 of her 20 points in the second half when she was 6-of-9 from the field and 3-of-5 on treys. Overall she made 7-of-12 from the floor. With the 20 points, she now has 12 career 20-point games and 58 games in double-digit points.
Syzmanski goes for season-best 33 in NSU win
Junior Mariah Szymanski averaged 23.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.5 assists in leading USF to wins over NSU and MSUM last weekend on the road. Syzmanski scored a season-high 33 points, which was the sixth-best in league play this season, in the 73-66 road win over NSU. Szymanski, who scored the second most points in her career (43, Concordia St. Paul, Jan. 20, 2018), hit 11-of-16 field goals and a season-high five triples on seven attempts. She also had six free throws, three steals and three rebounds in 30 minutes on the floor. She now has registered three games of 30 points or more in her career and has nine 20-point games with 30 games in double-digits points. Last weekend, she also had 14 points, three rebounds and two assists in a 77-74 road win over North Division leader MSUM. In that game she hit two threes and a pair of foul shots that gave USF a 74-71 lead with 22 seconds left. On the season, Szymanski has moved her per game average to 9.8 points with 2.8 rebounds and has a team-high 61 assists.
Redshirt sophomore Anna Goodhope had a pair of double digit scoring games last weekend and knocked in the game-winning three with two seconds left in USF's 77-74 win over MSU Moorhead Sat. Goodhope, who now has five double-digit scoring games at USF, scored 12 points with four rebounds in the win over NSU on Feb. 8. She followed up with 14 points and six rebounds with the game-winner in the win over MSUM on Feb. 9. Goodhope is now scoring 7.3 points and grabbing 5.0 rebounds per game. She has a team-high 121 total rebounds. Goodhope's career best in points is 28 against Minnesota State on Jan. 11, 2019. She has reached double digits in rebounds three times and has one double double (11 points and 11 rebounds at Concordia-St. Paul).
With 10 points against MSUM on 4-of-4 shooting from the floor, Jessie Geer had her eighth double-digit scoring game of her career at USF. Geer is scoring 8.1 points with 2.3 rebounds per game. Geer, who has hit 49.1 percent from the field, scored a career-high 26 points against Wayne State on Jan. 4 at the Stewart Center. She has had five steals in a game three time and had a career-best eight assists and eight rebounds in the home win over Augustana.
