SIOUX FALLS -- (RV) University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball Team (5-2, 5-2 NSIC), which has opened the season with five wins in seven games and is in a first-place tie in the NSIC South, will face Wayne State (5-5, 4-4 NSIC) in an NSIC South match up Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 5-6 at the Stewart Center. Game time is 6 pm on Friday, Feb. 5, and 4 pm on Feb. 6.

USF SAAC begins pledge drive for "It's A Slam Dunk, Don't Drive Drunk" at SC Feb. 5

USF SAAC, in coordination with the NSIC, will begin a "It's A Slam Dunk, Don't Drive Drunk" pledge drive beginning this week at USF-WSC games. It is a campagin started in 2013 to raise awareness about drunk driving. It was started eight years ago to commemorate Drake Bigler, the five-month-old son of SMSU Men's Basketball Coach Brad Bigler, who was killed by a drunk driver. USF SAAC is requesting that people do not drive drunk and to save lives.

Follow USF Basketball - Broadcast/Social Media
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 (schedule page, click on NSIC Network). Veteran announcer Tom Frederick will provide play-by-play for home games with veteran broadcaster John Gaskins doing road contests. All women's games will be carried on KELQ 107.9 FM. Live stats for home games are available at www.sidearmstats.com/wbball.  

Breaking down USF-WSC

Wayne State split with Winona State on Jan. 29-30. USF, which is receiving votes in the first WBCA National DII Poll, dropped a 71-67 decision to Minnesota State on Sunday, Jan. 31 at the Stewart Center. This will be the 24th matchup between USF and Wayne State.

This week in the WBCA Poll, the Cougars received points (26) as that national poll was released for the first time.  The Cougars opened the season on the road with two wins over Upper Iowa and home wins against Winona State before splitting two games on the road at Concordia, St. Paul. Then, USF fell at home to Minn. State, 71-67, despite a career-high 23 points and eight boards from junior Krystal Carlson. For the fourth time this year, Anna Brecht scored 20 points as USF played without two members of their rotation (Anna Goodhope and Megan Fannin).

At 5-2, USF sits in a tie for first place in the NSIC South but just two games up on Wayne State, which hasa won 3-of-4 and is coming off a 72-61 decision over Winona State on Jan. 30. 

As these two teams meet for 24th time, USF has a five-game winning streak against the Wildcats. WSC comes in at 5-5 overall and 4-4 in the NSIC South. Led by third-year Head Coach Brent Pollari (Mary, '01), WSC is one of the league's top-scoring team at 73.9 for third. The Cougars averaged 73.1 and is just behind them in league stats at fourth.  While USF has a 5.7 scoring margin for seventh in the NSIC, WSC is -4.8 for 11th.

WSC is a solid shooting team, led by standout forward Erin Norling, who is the reigning NSIC Player of the Week. She is averaging 17.7 points (3rd, NSIC) and 8.0 rebounds. With teammate Halley Busse at 15.1 ppg (10th in the league), WSC features two of the league's top-10 scorers. USF counters with Anna Brecht who is second in the NSIC with 18.9 points per game. WSC is fifth in the NSIC by making 41.0 percent from the field while USF is 12th at 38.8 percent. USF has not hit 40 percent from the field since a 86-78 road win over Upper Iowa (49.2 percent). However with 39.3 percent against MSU, it is their highest total since.

Still, USF is a strong three-point shooting club by hitting 7.6 per game and 34.6 percent from the three-point line, which ranks sixth in the NSIC. On the boards, USF is solid at 42.1 for third in the league.  In fact, USF is second in the league in rebound margin at 6.6 and have outrebounded five of its seven opponents.  WSC is seventh in the league with 38.5 rebounds fifth in margin at 2.0. The Cougars rank in the top-30 in three stat categories nationally as they are 22nd in free throw shooting at 77.6; 29th in offensive rebounds per game at 14.3 and 27th in rebound margin. 

WSC, which is 4-2 in road games this season, has a player in Norling, who has  55 double-digit games and has passed 1,500 career points (1,513). A week ago, NSIC home teams finished 9-4 and stand 38-27 at home with 19 games canceled due to CoVID-19 protocols. USF, which won the NSC South a year ago (26-6, 17-5 NSIC) and earned its second ever DII regional bid,  is 2-1 at home with a 3-1 road mark.  

Player Notes - Goodhope ranks 2nd in DII in 3-pt. percentage; Hoskinson leads NSIC in boards

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 11.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game for USF. Goodhope is 12-of-18 for 66.7 percent from three-point range and ranks second in DII and first in the NSIC in three-point field goal percentage. She  owns 89 threes at USF in her career with 109 total (20 at NDSU). She has 28 double-digit games at USF and 31 in her career. In that total, Goodhope has seven 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 18.9  points - 2nd in the NSIC (38th in DII) - and 5.9 rebounds. Brecht has seven straight double-digit games with 20 points or more four times. She set a career-high with 22 points against Winona State on Jan. 17. Brecht has 10 double-digit games in her career. 

Freshman Megan Fannin broke out with a big game in the opener. She had 20 points in 26 minutes, adding four rebounds, four assists and a steal in an 86-66 win over Upper Iowa. Fannin, originally of Watertown, S.D., hit 7-of-10 field goals and 4-of-5 from three-point range in that win over UIU. Through five games, including three starts, she is averaging 5.4 points and 1.8 rebounds. She has missed two straight games.

Junior guard Dallie Hoskinson, a 5-6 junior transfer from Johnson City Community College, leads the NSIC in rebounding at 9.4 per game. Hoskinson, who scores 7.1 points per game, has recorded double-digit rebounds in four of six games (15, 13, 12, 11) with a high of 15 vs Upper Iowa on Jan. 9. Hoskinson ranks 38th in DII in rebounding and is 14th in offensive rebounds per game at 4.3. She recorded consecutive double-digit rebounds against Winona State of 11 and 13 on Jan. 16 and 17. She had a double-digit point game against Upper Iowa in game two with 14 points. 

Senior guard Lauren Sanders, who is averaging 4.7 points per game and has made three starts in seven games, hit her 100th career three against Concordia St. Paul. She hit 5-of-12 threes against Concordia St. Paul and the senior now has 102 in her career.  She has 392 career points. Sanders has 11 career double-digit games with three of two points or more.

In making her first three starts at USF in seven games, senior Amanda Dagostino has averaged 3.5 points and 1.9 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. 

Sophomore Ashley Wells also had a  career-best with 14 points in the win over UIU on Jan. 9. Wells, who is averaging 2.7 points and 1.7 rebounds, made 4-of-5 field goals and 2-of-2 from three-point range for 14 points vs UIU. Wells has played in all seven games for USF. 

Newcomer Emily Peterson, who is averaging 3.6 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 seven games.

Kristen Carlson, a junior forward, has made  averaging six starts in seven games and is averaging  8.7 ppg, 4.4 rebounds and has three double-digit scoring game on the season - two in a row - and 10 in her career. She is coming off a season-high 23 points and eight rebounds in the loss to MSU. 

Junior forward Kiara James is adding 3.0 points, and 2.7 rebounds in providing critical contributions off the bench. In seven games, she has one start. James has a high of seven points against Winona State on Jan. 16 and eight boards against Upper Iowa on Jan. 9. She has one double-digit game in her career.

USF trails Wayne State, 14-9, in all-time series

USF has won five straight games in the series with WSC, which leads the overall series, 14-9. Since joining the NSIC, the Wildcats own a 10-9 advantage. The Cougars have six regular season wins and three victories in the NSIC Postseason Tournament. USF is 6-4 in the last 10 matchups and stand 4-4 at home.  

USF recorded a 89-75 victory on Feb. 22, 2020 in the last matchup at the Stewart Center. On Senior Night, Kaely Hummel scored 18 points to lead USF to its 24th victory of 26 last season. Augusta Thramer supplied 15 while Kiara James had a career-high with 14 points.  In the other game from a year ago on Jan. 3, 2020, USF took a 78-70 decision at Rice Auditorium. Hummel led USF with 22 points and Anna Goodhope added 18.  At the NSIC Tourney on March 2, 2019, USF rolled to a 103-79 victory as Lauren Sanders scored 21 and Goodhope had 20 as the Cougars reached the 100 point plateau for the first time in the DII era. It was the most points since a 103-47 win over JOhnson & Wales on Dec. 19, 2008. On Feb. 23, 2019, USF took a 77-72 win at Wayne, Neb, and also recorded an 81-59 decision on Jan. 4, 2019 at the Stewart Center. 

Prior to that WSC had two straight wins - 64-51 on Feb. 10, 2018 in Wayne, Neb., and 74-65 on Dec.30, 2017 at the Stewart Center.  In the first matchup as DII schools, Wayne State registered a 61-48 victory in Wayne, Neb. Despite 22 points from Laura Johnson, who had 11 rebounds for a double-double. USF's first win over WSC was a 81-63 decision on Feb. 16, 2013. In that USF victory, Alyssa Rushton scored 22 points with four triples while Laura Johnson had a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds.