The University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball will play the third of its current five-game homestand Thursday when it hosts Finlandia University in a 7:00 p.m. non-conference affair. Meanwhile the team will watch the NSIC standings as they rest of the league is in action. Currently the Bulldogs are seated in fifth place with a conference record of 6-6. MSU-Moorhead and Northern State each play two games this weekend and are just above UMD tied for third at 6-5. Right on the Bulldogs’ heels at 5-6 also playing a pair of conference games this weekend. The Beavers could play a major part in where the Bulldogs fall in next week’s NSIC standings as BSU plays both MSU-Moorhead and Northern State this weekend.

Last Action for the Bulldogs

Last week the Bulldogs swept their two conference opponents holding both teams to season lows. Thursday UMD defeated Southwest Minnesota State 65-47. Lindsey Dietz, the Bulldogs’ leading scorer, made her return to the line-up scoring 24 points and pulling down 7 rebounds. Saturday the team knocked off Wayne State 65-47. Dietz again led charge scoring 28 points while adding eight rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench.

In the first two games since her return from ankle injuries, Dietz has averaged 26.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game. She was 17-of-25 from the field (.680), 2-of-5 from behind the arc (.400) and 16-of-19 (.842) from the free-throw line. For her stellar weekend, the NSIC awarded her with the conference Player of the Week honor. It was the second such award for Dietz this season. The Coach

A Northland institution in women’s athletics, Karen Stromme enters her 20th season as the head coach of the University of Minnesota Duluth women’s basketball team.

Besides rolling up a 400-164 overall career record coming into 2003-04, Stromme's Bulldogs have captured the NSIC crown 10 of the last 15 years (11 times overall), three of the first four NSIC Tournament titles (2000, 2001 and 2003) and six trips to the NCAA Division II North Central Regional (1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003). UMD has won 20 or more games in 14 of the past 16 seasons.

In 2002-03, Stromme picked up her 400th career win in style, as it came during the Bulldogs’ 68-60 win over the University of Minnesota-Crookston in the 2003 NSIC Tournament championship game. Stromme also became the first NSIC women’s basketball coach to reach 200 league victories, during a 69-29 win over the University of Minnesota-Morris on Feb. 21, 2003.

Prior to joining the NCAA as a full member in 1995, Stromme guided the Bulldogs to seven successive appearances in the NAIA National Tournament (1988-94).

Stromme, 43, was officially appointed Minnesota Duluth's head coach on October 14, 1984, following the resignation of seven-year veteran and her impact was immediately felt. In her inaugural coaching campaign, Stromme directed the Bulldogs to a share of the school’s first-ever Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championship.

Stromme joined the Bulldog coaching staff in 1983 as an assistant coach after a brilliant four-year basketball career at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn, where she collected 1,423 points as a four-year starting center with the Oles. Stromme, who captained St. Olaf as a junior and a senior, earned a spot on the All-MAIAW Tournament team in four consecutive years in addition to being selected to the All-AIAW Region 6 honor group in 1981-82. Also a three-time letterwinner in golf, she graduated from St. Olaf in the spring of 1982 with a B.S. degree in sociology and American studies. In October 1994, Stromme was inducted into the St. Olaf Athletic Hall of Fame.

Stromme, a past president of the NAIA Women's Basketball Coaches Association, was chairperson of the USA Basketball Team Selection Committee which picked the U.S. entry for the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. Stromme was on the official traveling party of the gold-medal winning Team USA at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. She also served as an assistant coach for Team East at the 1995 U.S. Olympic Festival. Stromme is a past regional chair for the Kodak All-American committee.

A Look at the Lions

Finlandia University will arrive in the Twin Ports Thursday toting a 13-8 overall record. The team is returning four starters and seven letterwinners to a team that went 19-13 in 2002-03.

Under second year head coach Steve Nordstrom, the Lions have a good mix of vetran leadership and young talent on their roster. Led by four seniors, the team has a junior, a sophomore and four freshman. Senior Beth Koski is the team’s leading scorer netting 17.0 points per game. She also leads the team on the glass pulling down 6.8 rebounds per game. The Lions are in the first year of a provisional membership in the NCAA Division III and are not currently a member of any conference.

Does Offense or Defense Win Games?

The Bulldogs have held their last two opponents to less than 50 points as the UMD posted to a pair of wins. This season UMD has held its opponent to less than 55 points on six occasions and has come away with a win in each of those games. On the other end of the spectrum, UMD has scored more than 65 points in 11 of their 13 wins this season, going 11-0 when the team scores 65-plus.



Tops in the Nation

Before Dietz went down with an injury she had rattled off 43 consecutive free-throws made to set a new school record--breaking the 12-year-old mark by 15 baskets. In the process she has made 65 of her 69 attempts from the line for a shooting percentage of 94.2--a feat good enough to rank her 2nd in all of NCAA Division II women’s basketball players this season. She is now 81-89 (.910) but has not played in enough games to qualify to be ranked among the nations leaders.

Bulldogs on at Home

The Bulldogs are 7-3 when playing on their home floor this season. Since the 1979-80 season, UMD is 254-60 in Romano Gymnasium--winning home games at an 80 percent clip.

On Tap for UMD

After a non-conference contest with Finlandia, the Bulldogs will finish out their five-game homestand and play their final two regular season home games. UMD will host Minnesota State University, Moorhead Thursday evening in a 6:00 p.m. start and will turn around to face Northern State University in a Saturday matinee. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. and both games will be played in Romano Gymnasium.

Team Effort

With only three individual players ranked in the top 10 in any of the 12 statistical categories kept by the NSIC, it is evident that the success that UMD had has been due to players playing their roles and stepping up when needed. Eight Bulldogs different Bulldogs have score at least 10 points in a game this season. Although the team’s leading scorer Lindsey Dietz has a 21.1ppg average and has pulled down an average of 7.1 rpg, she does not qualify in the due to not playing in the required number of games.



Uncharacteristic Outcomes

Through 22 games in the 2003-04 season, the Bulldogs have already fallen nine times with six of those losses coming in NSIC competition. In this, Karen Stromme’s 20th year at the helm of the Bulldogs her teams have not lost more than 11 games in any season since the 1991-92 campaign in which they posted a 16-14 season. During that same span of time, UMD has never lost more than five conference games.



Bulldog Probable Starters

No. Player Pos. Ht. PPG RPG Other Notes

12 Katie Pavlich G 5-3 9.4 4.0 2.45 APG 12.5 ppg in last six games

11 Tanysha Scott G 5-7 9.5 2.2 2.82 APG 12.0 ppg in last four games

13 Lindsey Dietz F 6-0 21.1 7.1 2.00 APG 26.0 ppg and 7.5 rpg last weekend

22 Jess Berglund F 6-0 6.7 4.9 2.45 APG Two 19 point performances in last eight games

53 Natalie Hopkins C 6-2 7.0 4.8 1.1 BPG 9 blocks in the last six games