The University of Minnesota Duluth will return to the court after a two-week Christmas break, continuing Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play against No. 20 Concordia University, St. Paul and No. 23 Minnesota State University.
UMD (7-3, 4-2 NSIC) earned a revenge win over St. Cloud State last time out. The Huskies took an early lead, but after junior guard
Jessica Newman drilled a go-ahead three-pointer just before the five-minute mark of the opening half, UMD never looked back, downing St. Cloud State 75-66 at Romano Gym and securing some retribution for a road defeat in St. Cloud earlier this season.
Senior forward
Katrina Newman led all scorers with 27 points in her return to the court after a two-game absence. She added six rebounds, a pair of steals, and one big block on a night she shot 55.6 percent from the floor, including four of seven from beyond the arch. With the night's effort, Newman cracked the top ten in all-time scoring at UMD when she hit 1,251 points last time out against St. Cloud State. She sits 30 points behind ninth place and can reach seventh with just 45 more points. The all-time record of 2,810 points is held by Dina Kangas ('91).
Junior guard
Alyssa Kerkhoff added a double-double against SCSU with ten rebounds and 11 points with five assists, a block, and a steal. Kerkhoff currently ranks second in the NSIC with a 57.4 percent scoring average. The younger Newman had a game-high seven assists along with 12 points.
UMD is 4-1 away from Romano Gym and will look to build on that winning record this weekend.
About the Golden Bears
No. 20 Concordia-St. Paul (9-4, 4-2 NSIC) stumbled against Minnesota State, falling 67-80 in Mankato. The Bears out-shot MSU 42.4 percent to 34.7 percent but the Mavericks earned 19 points on 17 turnovers to pick up the win. Junior Anika Whiting is seventh in the NSIC in scoring average at 17.8 points per game and also ranks in the top 20 with 6.2 boards per outing. Senior Rachel Hansen leads the league with 5.69 assists per game while also hitting a double-digits scoring average with 12.7 points. Concordia has done a good job defending its home court in 2013-14 at 5-2 on the year, including a two-game home winning streak in conference play.
UMD is 21-16 all-time against the Golden Bears, but fell 53-66 last time out, on Jan. 18, 2013.
About the Mavericks
No. 23 Minnesota State (7-3, 4-2 NSIC) opens the weekend against St. Cloud State after snapping a two-game losing streak with a victory over Concordia-St. Paul before the holiday break. Senior Ali Wilkinson is one of two players in the NSIC averaging 20+ points per game, currently second in the league at 20.1 points per outing while also shooting a solid 57.3 percent on the year. She also ranks in the top ten with her 8.4 rebound average, good or seventh in the NSIC. Britney Scherber averages 10.2 points off the bench for MSU, shooting 46.2 percent from beyond the arc. Holding the Maverick offense down is key to victory as they average 88 points in each victory but just 78 points in their three defeats. MSU has scored 100 points twice already this season.
The Bulldogs are 30-26 all-time against the Mavericks, but fell 71-77 last season on Jan. 19, 2013.
Friday night's match-up with Concordia gets underway at 6:00 p.m. at the Ganglehoff Center in St. Paul before the Bulldogs turn around for a matinee with Minnesota State, tipping off Saturday's game at 4:00 p.m.
