The University of Minnesota Duluth will return from a 13-day lay-off and open the season's second half against a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference South Division foes this weekend in Duluth, including the Bulldogs' television debut on Sunday afternoon on My9.
UMD (2-7, 2-4 NSIC) will host this weekend's interdivisional contests at Romano Gym against Concordia University, St. Paul and Minnesota State University Mankato after falling 55-47 last time out at St. Cloud State University on Dec. 19. The Bulldogs have stumbled in three straight and will look to turn that around starting Saturday afternoon.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN BEARS | 5-6, 1-4 NSIC
Concordia-St. Paul has dropped four straight after starting the NSIC season with a victory, edged by Minnesota State last time out 92-87 ... CU will have a new bench boss when it takes the court on Saturday afternoon as interim head coach Amanda Behnke takes over for Paul Fessler, who stepped down late last week ... the Golden Bears own a victory against then-No. 8 Michigan Technological University, 86-77 at home on Nov. 21 ... sophomore guard Lauren Shifflett leads CU averaging 15.5 points per game ... junior center Caitlyn Russell has yet to start a game, but is third on the team averaging 10.3 points per game and second at 6.0 rebounds per game ... UMD is 21-19 all-time against Concordia-St. Paul, but fell 75-70 in last season's match-up -- exactly one season ago -- on Jan. 2, 2015.
SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS | 3-6, 2-3 NSIC
Minnesota State has won two of its last three match-ups, including knocking off Concordia-St. Paul last time out and will travel to St. Cloud State University on Saturday before coming to Duluth ... the Mavericks also own a victory over a ranked Michigan Tech squad, 77-73 on Nov. 28 ... junior guard Britney Scherber leads Minnesota State averaging 15.3 points per game ... senior center McKenzie Hoelmenn, a transfer from Northern Illinois University, leads the Mavericks with 8.8 rebounds while also scoring 10.4 points per game ... the Bulldogs hold a 30-28 edge in the all-time series with Minnesota State, but the Mavericks won last season 76-57 on Jan. 3, 2015, a year to date of this weekend's game.
FREE THROWSUMD fell to 2-7 on the first half of the season and 2-4 in conference play after St. Cloud State knocked off the Bulldogs 55-47 in the team's 2015 finale ... first-year guard
Sammy Kozlowski continued to impress, leading the offense with 15 points against the Huskies while also grabbing a team-high nine rebounds ... UMD rallied to pull within three in the fourth quarter but a scoreless spell down the stretch gave SCSU the edge.
HOW TO FOLLOWLive Stats & VideoUP NEXTUMD and Concordia-St. Paul will begin the season's second half with a Saturday matinee in Duluth. Opening tip is set for 2:00 p.m. at Romano Gym.
