SIOUX FALLS -- The University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball Team (8-5) will be the No. 4 South seed and face North Division No. 1 seed Minnesota Duluth (10-1) on Thursday (Feb. 25) at 10 am to open the NSIC Sanford-Health Postseason Tournament.

If the Cougars win, they will advance to a 10 am game on Saturday, Feb. 27 in the league semifinals. This year, the top four teams from each division advanced to the NSIC Tourney at the Pentagon. USF earned its spot with an 88-83 overtime win over Southwest Minnesota State on Sunday at the Stewart Center. USF finished 8-5 in the division and just ahead of SMSU at 7-5. 

Minnesota Duluth, which is ranked 9th in the WBCA DII Women's National Poll, comes into the game at 10-1. They split a pair of games to conclude the regular season. At opening 9-0, they fell to St. Cloud State - the No. 2 South seed , 60-49 on Feb. 21 and then rebounded with a 69-60 win to conclude the regular season on Feb. 21. UMD reached the NSIC Tourney finals a year ago but lost to St. Cloud State, 71-62. In 2019, UMD was the tourney title with a 52-48 decision over MSU Moorhead.

NSIC Sanford-Health Tourney Schedule -- @ Pentagon

N1 Minnesota Duluth (10-1) vs S4 Sioux Falls (8-5), 10 am, Feb. 25
S2 Concordia St. Paul (11-4) vs. N. 3 Bemidji State, 10 am, Feb. 26
S1 Augustana (11-4) vs. N. 4 Minnesota State Moorhead (7-5), 1 pm, Feb. 25.
N2 St. Cloud State (10-4) vs S3 Minnesota State, Mankato (9-6), 1 pm, Feb. 26

UMD/USF winner vs. CSP/BSU winner, 10 am, Feb. 27
AU/MSUM winner vs. SCSU/MSU winner, 1 pm, Feb. 27

Championship - 1 pm, Feb. 28

Follow USF Women's BB - Broadcast/Social Media links

Follow USF Women's Basketball on twitter at @USFCougars_WBB and @USF_Athletics. All USF's home and road games and NSIC contests are streamed for free through Blue Frame at the NSIC Network. To watch the tourney live in MidcoSports Network (David Brown/Brad Newitt), click here on the NSIC Network. Veteran announcer Tom Frederick will provide play-by-play for all NSIC Tournament games on KWSN Radio. For the radio broadcast, click here. The women's game will be carried on KWSN Radio. For live stats at the NSIC Tourney, click here.

USF stands 15-7 in the tourney all-time
As USF faces UMD, the Cougars will look to continue a run in which they have advanced to five straight NSIC Tourney semifinals. USF stands 15-7 in the tournament all-time. USF stands 6-0 in tourney quarterfinal games. In the semifinals USF is 2-4 and 1-1 in finals.

A year ago, USF defeated Winona State, 71-59, in the tournament quarterfinals to advance to face St. Cloud State in the semifinals. USF lost to SCSU, 76-59, in the tournament. However USF advanced to the NCAA DII Central Regional as the No. 3 seed before the season ended due to the CoVID-19 pandemic. 

 The Cougars have advanced to the NSIC Tournament finals twice, including runner-up finish in 2016-17 when they had wins over SCSU, 65-51; MSU Moorhead, 54-45; and Wayne State, 58-49, before falling to Northern State, 55-52. In 2015-16, the Cougars upended  Minnesota-Duluth, 66-50; Minnesota Crookston, 75-62; Northern State, 71-63; and Augustana, 75-57, to win the school's first-ever NSIC Tourney title. 

In the only time that USF and Minnesota Duluth have meet in the tournament, USF took 66-50 at the Stewart Center on Feb. 24, 2016. USF led 20-8 after the first quarter and 32-22 at halftime. After an even third quarter (16-16), USF had a decisive 18-12 margin in the fourth quarter to earn the victory. USF, which led by as many as 20 points (2:33, 4th quarter), outscored UMD, 32-22, in the paint and used a 15-3 margin in points off turnovers to build the lead. Sam Knecht scored 23 points with eight rebounds while Alison Klostergaard had five points, seven assists and a game-high 14 rebounds.  Alyson Johnsen added nine points and four rebounds. Anna Monke led UMD with 17 points. UMD shot 34.5 percent but hit just 2-of-13 from three. USF made 34.4 percent from the field and was 6-of-23 from three with 16 free throws. The Cougars had a 46-to-37 rebound edge and had 10 steals.

USF-UMD - The Match up

Both USF and UMD are among the top teams in the league in several statistical categories. UMD ranks first in field goal percentage at 44.8 and assist/turnover ratio at 1.39 while sitting second in scoring defense (57.9) and scoring margin (10.2 ppg). Overall, the squad, directed by sixth-year head coach Mandy Pearson, is ranked in the top-five of the league in 10 categories. They are led by All-NSIC forward and North Division Player of hte Year Brooke Olson, who topped the scoring charts in the NSIC at 20.6 ppg. She is the only double-digit scorer on the UMD squad. 

As for the Cougars, they are ranked in the league's top-five in six statistical categories. 

The Cougars rank fourth in scoring at 72.2 ppg USF, which is led by All-NSIC First-Team guard Anna Brecht, who ranks third in the NSIC in scoring at 18.0 points per game. She leads the NSIC in 20-point games with seven.  

The Cougars rank third in rebounding at 41.8 per game with a 5.0 margin which is fourth in the NSIC. USF is second in the NSIC in offensive rebounds at 13.0. USF has 169 offensive boards of 543 total rebounds this year. Leading the way is Dallie Hoskinson, a 5-6 junior guard, is  third in the NSIC with 7.8 rebounds. However, she leads the NSIC in offensive boards at 47, which is 10 more than the next closest competitor (Taylor Hustad, Winona State).   

USF trails the all-time series with UMD, 5-3 but won only NSIC Tourney match up

As the teams gather for the ninth time, USF trails the overall series, 5-3. The Cougars have lost three straight but own a 1-0 record in NSIC Tourney games. The Cougars defeated UMD, 66-50 at the Pentagon on Feb. 24, 2016. It was the first of three tournament wins as USF won the title and advanced to the NCAA DII Regional Tourney for the first time. A year ago UMD took a 84-74 decision in Sioux Falls on Dec. 13, 2019. In that game, UMD had a 48-36 halftime lead and held off a late USF charge. Sarah Grow scored 18 to lead USF which also had 14 from Payton Kahl and 13 by Maesyn Thiesen and Brooke Olsen. Anna Goodhope led USF with 18 points while Kaely Hummel had 15 and Krystal Carlson, 10. UMD made 10-of-18 threes while USF was 9-of-19. The Bulldogs used an 18-to-6 margin in points off turnovers to their advantage in beating USF at the Stewart Center.

Year-by-Year Series Record
12-13-19: UMD 84 USF 74 @ Sioux Falls
12-14-18: UMD 51 USF 36 @ Duluth
12-9-17: UMD 69 USF 51 @ Duluth
12-10-16: USF 66 UMD 47 @ Sioux Falls
2-24-16: USF 66 UMD 50 @ Pentagon (NSIC Tourney)
1-29-16: USF 82 UMD 53 @ Duluth
1-30-15: UMD 70 USF 65 @ Sioux Falls
1-10-14: UMD 69 USF 59 @ Duluth

Player Notes - Brecht named All-league
Twice in her career, including on Jan. 18 of 2021, Anna Goodhope has been named  the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) South Player of the Week. Goodhope helped guide the Cougars to a 2-0 weekend against Winona State. Goodhope, who prepped at Sioux Falls Washington, averaged 18 points, hit 56 percent from the field, and grabbing seven rebounds per game in playing 63 combined minutes against WSU this past weekend.  In a 67-61 win over WSU on Saturday, Jan. 16, she had 16 points and six rebounds with three assists. Then she scored 20 points with eight rebounds, assist and a steal in a 73-67 win. Goodhope, who also earned the NSIC Player of the Week honors on Nov. 19, 2019, is averaging 12.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game for USF. Goodhope is 23-of-52 for 44.2 percent from three-point range. She  owns 100 threes at USF in her career with 120 total (20 at NDSU). She has 32 double-digit games at USF and 35 in her career. In that total, Goodhope has eight 20-point games and three double doubles.  

Anna Brecht, a 6-0 transfer from Wisconsin/Green Bay and former Sioux Falls, S.D., native, has opened her career by averaging 18.0  points - 3rd in the NSIC - and 5.46 rebounds. Brecht has 12-of-13 double-digit games in scoring with 20 points or more a league-high seven times. She is third in the NSIC in free throw percentage at 90 percent (63-of-70) and has a streak of 29 straight made foul shots. She set a career-high with 25 points against Wayne State on Feb. 5. Brecht has 15 double-digit games in her career at USF and Green-Bay. She registered her first-ever double double with 15 points and 12 rebounds against Augustana on Feb. 13. 

Junior guard Dallie Hoskinson, a 5-6 junior transfer from Johnson City Community College, leads the NSIC in rebounding at 7.8 per game. Hoskinson, who scores 8.2 points per game, has recorded double-digit rebounds in five of 13 games (15, 13, 12, 11, 10) with a high of 15 vs Upper Iowa on Jan. 9. She recorded double-double twice this season with 10 points and 10 rebounds against Wayne State on Feb. 6 and had 12 points and 12 rebounds against Concordia St. Paul on Jan. 22. She has three straight double-digit scoring games with her career-high 18 vs Augustana on 2-13-21. She has five total in double-digits scoring.

Senior guard Lauren Sanders, who is averaging 6.3 points per game and has made seven starts in 11 games, hit her 100th career three against Concordia St. Paul. She has recorded  111 career threes.  She has 428 career points. Sanders has 13 career double-digit games with three of 20 points or more.

In making three starts at USF in 11 games, senior Amanda Dagostino has averaged 3.4 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. In her first start, she came up big for USF.  She was 4-of-4 from the floor Jan. 9 against Upper Iowa with a career-best eight points, five rebounds and career-highs in blocks with three and assists with three. 

Newcomer Emily Peterson, who is averaging 2.5 points, also had a double-digit points game for USF for the first time. In the win over Winona State, she hit her first two threes with USF and had 10 points in 14 minutes. Against CSP in a 83-68 win, she hit three straight threes and finished with nine points to help the Cougars to a win. She has two starts in 13 games.

Krystal Carlson, a junior forward, has made  averaging 13 starts in 12 games and is averaging 9.2 ppg, 5.0 rebounds and has five double-digit scoring game on the season - 12 in her career. She had a career 28 points and career-high 17 rebounds in an 88-83 overtime win over Southwest Minnesota State.    

Kiara James is averaging 3.4 points and 2.7 rebounds in 13 games, mostly off the bench.