SIOUX FALLS-- The University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball Team (15-7, 10-6 NSIC), which has won seven-of-10 games, will hit the road for a pair of games against Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North Division opponents this weekend beginning at Northern State (8-14, 5-11 NSIC) at 5:30 p.m., on Friday (Feb. 8) at the Barnett Center. They Cougars will then turn wrap up their weekend road trip with  North Division leader Minnesota State Moorhead (18-4, 14-2 NSIC) at 3:30 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 9 at the Nemzek Fieldhouse.  
 
Last weekend (Feb. 1-2), the Cougars finished 2-0, which included dominating home wins over Bemidji State (95-47) and Minnesota Crookston (80-47). The Cougars allowed just 47.0 points per game while averaging 87.5 points per game at the Stewart Center.  USF was led by Kaely Hummel, who averaged 19.5 points and hit 71.4 percent from the field (15-of-21) while making 6-of-11 from three-point range for 54.5 percent. In the weekend games, Hummel moved past 1,000 career points and sits at 1,034 for her career. She is the 19^th player in women's basketball school history to surpass 1K in points.
 
Also contributing in the USF wins was Jessie Geer, who averaged 14.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.0 steals while hitting 14-of-23 field goals for 61.8 percent. And, Geer, who had career highs with eight rebounds and eight assists in the win over BSU, did all her work in just 46 total minutes.  Freshman Jasmine Harris posted her fourth double digit scoring effort of the season with 12 points while shooting 50 percent from the field and going three-for-five from beyond the arc against BSU.  USF had four players reach double figures in their 80-47 victory over UMC. Hummel led the Cougars with 17 points on an efficient seven-for-nine shooting while also tallying three assists, two rebounds and two steals. Geer scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds and five assists, while sophomore Lauren sanders and junior Mariah Szymanski each added 11 points of their own.  The wins helped USF improved to 9-2 at home.
 
How things stand
USF, which has won 4-of-5 games, stand 10-6 in the NSIC and third in the NSIC South behind Augustana and Concordia-St. Paul., who are both 11-5 in the South Division. In the upcoming NSIC cross-divisional matchup, USF faces NSU, which is 8-14 overall and 5-11 in league place for seventh in the North Division. Last weekend, the Wolves suffered a pair of NSIC South losses including a 71-49 loss to CSP and a 54-40 loss to Minnesota State. Over the weekend, NSU junior guard Brianna Kusler averaged 10.5 points and nine rebounds per game.  Kusler has averaged a double-double with 11.5 points and 10.1 rebounds per contest throughout the season.  MSUM, who currently holds the top spot in the NSIC North with a 18-4 conference record, won their last matchup on Saturday (Feb. 2) against CSP, 63-58 following a 70-76 loss on Friday (Feb. 1) against MSU. In their most recent victory over CSP, the Dragons had two players post double-doubles in junior Megan Hintz scoring 19 points and 14 rebounds, and sophomore guard Kiley Borowicz posted 10 points and 11 rebounds.
 
USF ranks fourth in the NSIC in scoring at 71.5 points per game and third in scoring defense at 57.5 points per game. The Cougars lead the conference with a 6.73 turnover margin and rank fourth in the NSIC in field goal shooting at 42.2 percent. The Cougars, which sit first in scoring margin in the league at 14.0 ppg, have had just three games - Augustana (65-60 win), Concordia-St. Paul (69-64 loss) and Minot State (59-54 loss) - decided by five points or fewer and five games decided by nine points or less. USF, which defeated Minnesota Crookston, 80-47 on Feb. 2, has 12 victories by double-digit totals with five wins of 46 points or more. In the Dec. 7 home win over CSP, USF head coach Travis Traphagen picked up his 200th career win at USF. In USF's seven losses, five have occurred by double-digit variety (12, 16, 25, 16, 14).  Through 22 games, USF is outshooting opponents, 42.2 percent to 57.5 percent. USF ranks sixth in the NSIC in assists at 14.05 per game and are third in the league in steals at 9.55 per contest.
 
vs. Northern State – NSU leads 5-3
Northern State hold a 5-3 series lead when they defeated USF, 74-46 loss on the road last season. The Wolves won the first meeting, 54-48, on Jan. 19, 2013 then took the 2013-14 meeting, 64-57. USF reeled off three straight victories, including two in the 2015-16 season as part of their NSIC Tournament championship campaign. The only other game in the eight-game series to be decided by double-digit points was USF's 82-65 victory at Northern State on Jan. 16, 2016. Later that season on Feb. 29 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, Cougars topped the Wolves in the NSIC Tournament semis, 71-63, as Taylor Varsho scored 26 points and Alison Klostergaard provided 13 along with nine rebounds. Varsho hit six of USF's 10 threes in the game. The next night, USF advance to the NCAA DII Tournament with a 75-57 win over rival Augustana. In 2016-17, NSU edged the Cougars, 63-62, in the Stewart Center in the regular season on Jan. 27, 2017. Alyson Johnsen had Brooke Smith had 11 points for USF, which led 48-43 with 8:43 to play before NSU rallied late. Later than season, NSU took a 55-52 decision, in the NSIC Tournament title game on Feb. 28, 2017 at the Sanford Pentagon. In the tourney game, Madi Robson had 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists and Alyson Johnsen added 12 points.  The Cougars are 1-2 when playing at NSU's Wachs Arena with a 2-3 record against the Wolves during regular season NSIC competition.
 
Series History: MSU Moorhead leads 5-4
USF has defeated MSU three of the last four times and cut the all-time series deficit to 5-4. In the NSIC Tournament a year ago, Mariah Szymanski and  Augusta Thramer helped erase a double-digit deficit in the quarterfinal round of the 2018 NSIC Tournament to defeat North No. 1 seed MSUM, 59-56. Szymanski had 26 points, hitting 9-of-13 field goals and 4-of-5 threes, and scoring a late basket to lead the way. Thramer had her career-high of 17 points while grabbing seven rebounds in the win. Earlier in that same 2017-18 season, MSUM claimed a 69-58 win over USF at the Stewart Center. USF and MSUM have faced each other in the NSIC Tournament three times in their series history with USF taking two-of-three postseason matchups. USF defeated the Dragons, 54-45, in the quarterfinals two seasons ago, but MSUM earned the first postseason meeting, 62-50, in the NSIC Tournament first round in Moorhead, Minn. on Feb. 27, 2013. MSU Moorhead opened the series against USF with three straight wins, including the postseason victory over USF in the first year as full-time members of NCAA Division II and the NSIC. The Cougars got the first win over MSUM on Jan. 16, 2015, defeating the Dragons, 76-71, in overtime behind double-digit scoring efforts from four Cougars, led by Teagan Molden's 19. Dropping a one-point decision on the road the next season, USF won the 2016-17 regular season matchup, 66-61, as seniors Madi Robson, Sam Knecht and Alyson Johnsen combined for 47 points. In the NSIC Tournament quarterfinals that same season, Knecht scored 25 points to lead the Cougars to the NSIC quarterfinal win, 54-45, over the top-seeded Dragons.
 
Hummel moves past 1,000 career points; ranks sixth in NSIC scoring
After scoring 22 points against Bemidji State last Friday (Feb. 1), Kaely Hummel, a junior from Cherokee, Iowa, became the 19th player in USF Women's Basketball history to surpass 1,000 points in her career. Hummel now has 1,034 total points in her illustrious career. Additionally, Hummel registered her 11th 20-point game of her career and has accumulated 57 games with double-digit scoring efforts.
 
Hummel ranks sixth in the league with 15.0 points per game and is third in the NSIC South. In USF's DII era, she ranks second with 172 made three-pointers and third in points with 1,034 points. USF's all-time three-point shot leader is Laura 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 (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.
 
Syzmanski ranks second on USF in scoring
Mariah Szymanski, who was named second team All-NSIC a year ago, is second on the team in scoring at 8.5 points per game while shooting at a 39.5 percent clip. She has totaled 28 career double-digit scoring games with 11 contests 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 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.
 
USF individual notes
Jessie Geer averaged 14.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 3.0 steals this past weekend against BSU and UMC. Geer, who is averaging 8.2 points and 2.3 rebounds per game in 2018-19, had her eighth double digit scoring game with 15 points against Minnesota Crookston. Geer recorded a career high in points against 26 points agaist Wayne State on Jan., 4 in which 20 points came in the first half.
 
Anna Goodhope is averaging 6.7 points, 5.0 rebounds. 1.5 assists this season. She currently leads the team in rebounds and has totaled three double-digit rebound games this year as well as three double-digit scoring efforts. Goodhope, who prepped at Sioux Falls Washington, had a career-high 28 points with nine rebounds in a win over Minnesota State on Jan. 11. Against CSP on Jan. 12, she had her first career double double of 11 points and 11 rebounds.
 
In her first start of the season against Minot State on Jan. 19, junior guard Augusta Thramer had a season-high 14 points along with five rebounds, two assists and a steal. Thramer pulls down 3.7 rebounds per game, which is third on the team, while also averaging 3.5 points per game.
 
Freshman Krystal Carlson, who is averaging 4.2 points and 2.8 rebounds per game, has three double digit games with a career-best 20 points against SMSU on Dec. 1, 2018.  She has started eight of 20 games for USF this season.
 
Sophomore Lauren Sanders leads the team in three-point percentage, shooting at a 47 percent clip. Sanders has gone 27-of-58 from behind the arch, and is recording 4.3 points per game this season.  Sanders, had 11 points in the win over UMC and eight against BSU as she has started consecutive games for the first time this year. A year ago, Sanders posted a career-high 23 points against Presentation College, where she hit a career-high seven three pointers on 14 attempts.  So far in her career, Sanders has accumulated nine double-digit scoring efforts with two coming earlier this season.