SIOUX FALLS. – The No. 2 seeded University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball Team (22-7), which has a league-high nine-game winning streak, will face Wayne State (15-14) in the quarterfinals of the NSIC Sanford Health Basketball Tournament on Saturday, March 2 at 2:30 p.m., at the Sanford Pentagon.

USF finished 16-6 in league play and one game behind CSP to earn the No. 2 seed. With an 89-74 win over Minnesota Crookston in the opening round, the Cougars stand 22-7 on the season. Wayne State upended U-Mary, 54-52, on the road to earn a berth into the quarterfinals. The winner of the USF-WSC game will face the winner of the MSU Moorhead and Winona State game. In the other bracket Augustana faces Minnesota Duluth and Bemidji State, which upset South No. 1 Concordia St. Paul, 73-70, battles St. Cloud State.

NSIC Tournament Sanford Health history: USF has advanced to three straight semis
USF is 12-5 and has advanced to the quarterfinal round four straight seasons after the 89-54 win over Minnesota Crookston on Feb. 27 at the Stewart Center. Jessie Geer had a career-high 29 points and Mariah Szymanski added 23 to lead USF. The Cougars will look to advance to the NSIC Sanford Health tourney semifinals for the fourth straight year. 

In 2017-18, USF defeated U-Mary, 60-50, at the Stewart Center in the first round as Szymanski and Kaely Hummel both scored 20 points. After trailing 28-20 at the halftime break, the Cougars had a 40-22 margin in the final two quarters to earn the first-round win. In the tournament quarterfinals, the Cougars defeated North No. 2 MSU Moorhead, 59-56, as Szymanski scored 26 points and Augusta Thramer scored a career-high 17. Szymanski led USF from a 12-point deficit and scored the go-ahead basket with 8.6 seconds to play and then made a pair of free throws for the final margin. In the win, USF upset MSUM for a second straight year. USF, which was seeded No. 3, fell to South No. 1 seed Augustana, 63-43 in the semifinals. 

USF is 5-0 in NSIC Tournament quarterfinals and 2-2 in semifinals. Since the NSIC moved the championship sight to the Sanford Pentagon in 2014, USF has played in 10 games at the Sioux Falls facility and are 7-3 in those games. In the last three years at the Pentagon, USF is 6-2, losing only in the NSIC Tournament title game to Northern State, 55-52 in 2016-17 and Augustana a year ago in the semifinals. The Cougars dropped a 78-66 decision to eventual Central Region champion Concordia-St. Paul in 2014, then returned to the NSIC semis two years later. En route to their NSIC Tournament title, USF defeated Northern State, 71-63, in the 2016 semifinals. Last season, USF's defense stymied Wayne State in a 58-49 victory for their second consecutive title game appearance. In the 2016 NSIC Championship, USF defeated rival Augustana, 75-57, to earn NCAA DII national tourney berth, the first in school history.  In that history-making victory, Taylor Varsho, who was the tourney MVP, had 23 points with seven assists and eight rebounds. Alison Klostergaard added 18 points and Teagan Molden provided 12 points. USF trailed, 29-26 after two quarters but outscored their city rivals, 29-8, in the third quarter to build a big league and cruised to the title.

Cougars finish second in NSIC South
With an eight-game winning streak to close the regular season, the Cougars finished second in the NSIC South at 16-6. USF, which was picked to win the NSIC in the preseason for the first time, have overcome season-ending injuries to starters Jacey Huinker and Hannah Jones to earn the No. 2 seed in the South. For the fourth straight season, USF, which has won 22 games or more for the third time in the past four years, clinched a home playoff game to open the tournament.  

USF rolls past Minnesota Crookston
With Jessie Geer scoring a career-high 29 points and Mariah Szymanski providing 23, USF defeated UMC in the tournament's opening round at the Stewart Center. It was USF's program-tying nine consecutive victory. In the 89-74 decision USF defeated UMC for the second time in the NSIC tourney and lead the all-time series 7-2 against the Golden Eagles. Geer made 10-of-15 field goals and a tied a career-high with four made threes (six attempts) as she bettered her career-best in points with 29 (26 vs. Wayne State, Jan. 4, 2019) while grabbing three rebounds with three assists and three steals. Szymanski had 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor, 2-of-4 from three with 5-of-6 at the foul line. She also had six rebounds and dished two assists without committing a turnover in a sound floor game in 36 minutes.  USF had four players in double digits with Anna Goodhope had her eighth double digit scoring game of the season after providing 13 points and eight rebounds with four assists and a steal. Junior guard Kaely Hummel added 11 points with her 63rd career double digit scoring game. She now has 1,155 points in her career and with a three hit her 190th of her career.

Wayne State leads series with USF, 14-6 
USF swept the season series with Wayne State with a 81-59 win at the Stewart Center and a 77-72 verdict at Wayne State. As a result, USF trails the all-time series 14-6. In the NSIC Tourney, USF has a 2-0 margin. In the 77-72 road win over Wayne State, Hummel had 20 points, five assists and four rebounds to lead USF to their first-ever victory at Rice Auditorium. USF also had 10 points, three rebounds, block, steal and assist from junior Gloria Mulumba. Sophomore Anna Goodhope added nine points, a team-high 12 rebounds and two steals. Junior guard Jessie Geer provided nine points, two rebounds and hit both of her three-point field goals. The Cougars, which built as large as an 11-point lead in the third quarter (7:12, 3rd), led for the entire game although the Wildcats made several runs at the lead. After one quarter, USF took a 19-to-16 advantage and with an 18-to-12 second quarter moved to halftime with a 37-28 lead. The Cougars were outscored 18-to-15 in the third quarter and led, 55-49. WSC also had a 26-to-25 margin in the final quarter and cut USF lead to three points with 15 seconds to go (75-to-72) but Szymanski's free throws iced the game. In the 81-59 win over the Wildcats at the Stewart Center on Jan. 4, junior Jessie Geer had a career-best 26 points. Since becoming a member in the NSIC, USF has three victories in the regular and 10 losses against Wayne State but do own a pair of postseason tournament victories over the Wildcats. WsC captured a 65-51 decision on Feb. 10, 2018, despite 13 points and five rebounds from Augusta Thramer and 10 points by Kaely Hummel. On Dec. 30, 2017, the Cougars fell at home to WSC, 74-65, despite 22 points by Hummel. In 2016-17, the Cougars spoiled the Wildcats' postseason with a 75-69 overtime victory in the quarterfinals of the NSIC Tournament which dashed WSC's hopes of a conference tournament title. The Cougars rolled past Wayne State in 2015-16 with an 84-46 win at the Stewart Center. USF would go on to win their first-ever NSIC Tournament title later that season. Despite losing both regular season games in 2016-17, the Cougars earned a 58-49 victory over WSC in the NSIC Tournament semifinals. Earlier in that 2016-17 season, Wayne State defeated USF, 58-50, in Wayne, Neb., despite 14 points and 10 rebounds from Sam Knecht. Later in the season on Feb. 11, 2017, Knecht had 22 points and 12 rebounds but USF fell to WSC, 67-57, at the Stewart Center. 

USF has tied a program DII-high with eight straight regular season wins
USF, which has 10 wins in 11 games, has a league-best and program DII best eight-game winning streak and finished the regular season home schedule with an 11-2 mark. With wins over Augie and Wayne State, they have won eight straight for the first time in more than three years (1-16-16-to 2-12-16).  USF ranks third in the NSIC in scoring at 72.0 points per game and stand fourth in scoring defense at 59.1 points per game. The Cougars, which have held seven opponents under 50 points, rank second in the league with a 5.96 turnover margin and third in assist turnover ratio at 1.2. USF is first in the NSIC in scoring margin at 12.9 ppg and third in field goal percentage at 42.8 percent.

USF has reached 20 wins for 6th time
In USF's Women's Basketball history, the program has recorded six 20-win seasons. Five of those seasons have happened with all-time wins leader and current head coach Travis Traphagen. The 22 wins in 2018-19 ranks tied for fifth on the list. Here is how the teams rank in order of wins – 27-6, 2010-11; 27-6, 2015-16; 23-10, 2002-03; 23-3, 2011-12, 22-8, 2016-17; 22-7, 2018-19. The first 20-win season was in the 2002-03 season when the Cougars reached the NAIA Final Four with head coach Katie Dailey. The other five 20-win seasons came with Traphagen, including a 27-6 mark in which USF won their first-ever NSIC Tournament title and reached the NCAA DII playoffs for the first time.

Hummel and Szymanski named to All-NSIC squad for second straight year
For the second straight season, junior guards Kaely Hummel and Mariah Szymanski have been named to the All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference squad, according to an announcement by the league office Thursday (Feb. 28). For the fourth time in their seven-year membership of the NSIC, USF has had two players named All-NSIC. This year, Hummel was named to the 12-member first team after earning second team honors a year ago. Szymanski was named to the 12-member second-team for the second straight year. The league MVP was Carrie Askvig of U-Mary and Karla Nelson of MSU Moorhead was league coach of the year.

Hummel of Cherokee, Iowa, and Szymanski of Pulaski, Wis., have led USF to a 22-7 record and into the NSIC Sanford Health Postseason Tournament quarterfinals where the Cougars will face Wayne State at 2:30 pm Saturday (March 2) at the Sanford Pentagon. The USF duo led the Cougars to a 16-6 regular season record and second place in the NSIC South. Additionally, they have played lead roles as the Cougars have tied an all-tie best nine-game winning streak.

Hummel ranks in top seven in NSIC in four categories
Hummel ranks in the top seven in the NSIC in four statistical categories. She is sixth in the league in scoring at 15.6 points per game, fourth in free throw shooting at 85.5 percent, third with 2.4 threes per game and seventh in three-point percentage at 40.4 percent. Hummel has 63 career double-digit scoring games and 14 contests with at least 20 points. Fourteen times this season she has hit three or more threes in a game and has five on three occasions. She has 38 career games with at least three made treys and seven games with five or more triples. She set a career high with six treys against Augustana on Dec. 31, 2016. 

In USF's DII era, Hummel ranks second with 190 made three-pointers, which is fourth all-time overall at USF. She is third in the program's DII era in points and 16th all-time at USF with 1,155 points. With 87 starts she is third in the DII era with 88 games played for eighth. Hummel has the second (462, 2017-18) and third (452, 2018-19) best scoring seasons in the DII era at USF.   

Szymanski approaching 800 career points
Mariah Szymanski has put together another standout season at USF. With her 23 points and six rebounds in the opening round of the conference tourney on Wednesday, Szymanski is averaging 9.9 points, 3.4 rebounds along with 2.8 assists per game.

Szymanski, who averaged 10.7 points in the 22 league games, has registered 14 double-digit scoring games this year and has run her career total to 32. Szymanski, who has 765 career points, has 10 career games of 20 points or more with three in 2018-19. She had a season-high of 33 vs. Northern State on Feb. 8 in Aberdeen. With 21 games this season with a made three, she now has 57 career games with a three and 32 or more (10 this season) with two or more triples. In addition, she had her first career double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in a 76-62 road win over Augustana on Feb. 22. 

Goodhope has eight double digit scoring games
Anna Goodhope who has scored 245 points with 165 rebounds this season, is averaging 8.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. She has eight double digit scoring games and five double digit rebound games. She has had 12 rebounds in a game twice including at Concordia St. Paul on Dec. 7, 2018 and at Wayne State on Feb. 23, 2019. Goodhope recorded double doubles against Concordia St. Paul on Jan. 12, 2019 with 11 points and 11 rebounds and against Upper Iowa on Feb. 16, 2019 with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Twice this season she has had 20 or more points. She scored 28, including a career-best seven made threes on 13 attempts, in a win at Minnesota State on Jan. 11, 2019. She set a career high, including making five threes on 12 attempts, in a 70-68 home win over Winona State on Feb. 15, 2019. Goodhope has two or more threes in a game seven times and a made triple in 23 games with 39 on the season.

Geer leads USF in steals and has 11 double-digit scoring games
Junior guard Jessie Geer is scoring 9.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.8 steals (tied for sixth in the NSIC) per game. Geer scored a career-high 26 points against Wayne State on Jan. 4 at the Stewart Center. Geer, who has a team-best 50 steals, has had five steals in a game three times and had a career-best eight assists and eight rebounds in the home win over Augustana.  Twelve times she has reached double-digits in points.

Carlson has four games in double-digits for USF
In her freshman campaign, Krystal Carlson has made 16 starts in 29 games is averaging 4.7 points and 2.7 rebounds. She is hit 49.2 percent from the floor and has 10 blocks, 13 steals and 135 points along with 77 rebounds. Carlson, who had a career-best 20 points against SMSU on Dec. 1, 2018 (9-of-15 from the floor), has four career games in double-digit points.