THE OPENING TIP
The No. 23 UMD women's basketball team (11-2 overall, 8-0 NSIC) heads out on its first road trip of 2023 this weekend, one with a pair of in-state stops. The Bulldogs first find themselves in St. Paul to take on the Golden Bears on Friday, Jan. 6 at 5:30 p.m. before moving to Mankato to play No. 5 Minnesota State on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 3:30 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
New Year's Weekend couldn't have gone much better for the Bulldogs.

For one thing, UMD got to celebrate at home, hosting a pair of contests in Romano. Festivities began by closing out 2022 with a matchup against Northern State. The Bulldogs opened the day by outscoring the Wolves 22-12 in the first quarter. But Northern wouldn't go away quietly, even in the face of a 39-28 halftime deficit. Eventually, the Wolves were seemingly rewarded for their efforts- with 2:24 left in the third, Northern had trimmed UMD's lead down to just three at 46-43. Still, the Bulldogs would enter the final frame up three scores at 52-45. The Wolves would get it down to three once again in the fourth at 55-52 just for the Bulldogs to go on a 9-2 run that helped them close out the contest for good. UMD went on to defeat Northern 70-63. Ella Gilbertson was huge for the Bulldogs on Saturday, scoring 14 points on 6-10 shooting to pair with eight boards and two steals/assists. 

UMD's first matchup of the new year was with MSU Moorhead. The Bulldogs started 2023 the same way they'd closed 2022- with a big first quarter. This one took the tune of a 12-4 scoring advantage that UMD was able to build upon in the second to take a commanding 30-16 lead into the break. The Dragons had pulled to within five points of knotting things up during this run at a score of 21-16, but that's the closest they'd come.

And it ended up being the closest they would be for the rest of the game. Moorhead would pull within six at 30-24 with 7:40 to go in the third only for UMD to walk into the fourth with a 48-36 lead. The final frame ended up being a simple game of back-and-fourth- a formula favoring the Bulldogs. UMD went on to ride their early advantage that they'd re-fortified many times throughout the contest to a convincing 60-45 victory over the Dragons. Brooke Olson was the MVP of the day, registering her second double-double of the year with 19 points and 10 rebounds. 

RANKINGS ROUNDUP
It's pretty hard not to notice a team with a perfect 8-0 record in conference play built largely by a still-alive seven-game win streak. The coaches of the Division II space seem to have agreed. 

For the first time since March 28, 2022, the Bulldogs landed back in the ranks of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Poll, coming in at No. 23. UMD had received votes in each installment of the poll leading up to this one, but this was its first appearance in the top 25. 

Along with this, the Bulldogs landed at No. 22 in the D2SIDA Media Poll this week. Last week saw UMD crack the top 25 of that poll for the first time this year, coming in at No. 25. The Bulldogs stood firm at No. 4 in the D2SIDA's Central Region rankings.

STATS STATUS REPORT
Brooke Olson continues to lead the Bulldogs in average scoring, working at a clip of 18.3 points a game on 47.3% shooting from the field. Olson also maintains the title of the team's leading rebounder, grabbing 6.6 boards a night.

Ella Gilbertson has emerged as another double-digit scorer for UMD, currently averaging 10.5 points a night on (coincidentally enough) 47.3% shooting of her own. A large part of the junior's offensive success has been her abilities from beyond the arc, from which she's currently shooting a team-high 45.2%.

Maesyn Thiesen continues to lead UMD on the distribution front with 3.6 assists a game. Meanwhile, Taya Hakamaki continues to have a nose for the ball on defense, leading the team in steals with 2.2 a game.

Speaking of defense, the Bulldogs are still pretty good at that as a unit. UMD holds opponents to an average of just 55.8 points a game, the best mark in the NSIC and the 18th best figure in the country. 

SCOUTING REPORT ON CONCORDIA  ST. PAUL (7-5 OVERALL, 4-4 CONFERENCE)

COACHING CONVO
Concordia head coach Amanda Johnson's in her eighth season leading the Golden Bears. So far, she holds a 114-78 all-time record in St. Paul, good for a 59.4% winning percentage. Across seven campaigns with Concordia, Johnson's only finished a season below .500 twice. And one of those marks came in 2015-16, when Johnson took over at the helm of the squad in the middle of the season when it was already 5-6. 

2021-22 IN A NUTSHELL
It was quite an effort from the Golden Bears last season. Concordia finished the year 19-8, which is tied for the second-most wins for the team under Johnson's watch. A 14-7 tally in conference play left the Golden Bears in second in the NSIC's South Division and fourth in the NSIC overall. After a first round victory over Bemidji State in the NSIC Tournament, Concordia ran into a tough draw in the second round in the form of a St. Cloud State squad that was No. 13 in the country with a 22-3 record. The Golden Bears would go on to lose that contest 78-49. This spelled the end for Concordia's season, as the team did not qualify for the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

DOUBLE-DIGIT DEPARTURES
The Golden Bears entered the 2022-23 season balancing a desire for an improvement on their previous effort with the fact that they were now without three of their highest point producers. And in all three cases, it wasn't just scoring that Concordia would be missing out on. Take Meaghan Dubois as an example. Not only was the guard second on the team in scoring with 12.4 points a night, but she outright led the squad in average assists with 5.6. Then there was Sydney Zgutowicz. Gone with her 12.3 points a night was her team-high rebounding average of 8.1. Rounding out this exodus was Riley Wheatcraft, who had been good for 11.3 points and 5.1 boards a game.

FROM SPRINGFIELD TO ST. PAUL
"When the scoring's strange in your neighborhood… who you gonna call? The transfer portal!"

Ah, yes, my favorite song. It must have been a favorite in one half of the Twin Cities ahead of this season, too- Ally Gietzel is proof of this. 

The junior guard became a Golden Bear after three seasons of collegiate action out in Illinois, first at Illinois state from 2018-21 and most recently at Illinois Springfield this past year. Gietzel averaged 9.6 points and 6.5 rebounds as a Prairie Star* last season. As a Golden Bear, her game only seems to be getting better and better. Gietzel's currently operating at a team-high clip of 12.1 points a game while retaining her rebounding prowess, averaging seven boards a night. All the while, she's been a pretty reliable distributor, too, tied for the team lead in assists a game with 2.08.

*Bulldog fact of the day: While there does exist a type of flower called a Prairie Star, Illinois-Springfield's literally referencing stars seen in prairie skies. The team's mascot is Orion, based on the constellation.

SOPHOMORE SENSATIONS
Bringing in external talent sure is fun and all… but it never hurts to have some reliable pieces in-house, too. 

Take Sarah Kuma, for example. Kuma had a prototypical freshman season last year, averaging 3.2 points and being used primarily as a rotational piece. So far this season, though, the guard's shown that she's taken some strides. Kuma's currently second on the team in average points with 9.4 a night. And much like Gietzel, she's proven that if she's not shooting the ball, she can dish it out, too. Kuma's the other Golden Bear averaging 2.08 assists a game thus far this year. But it doesn't stop there- the guard's also developed an affinity for swiping the ball away. Kuma leads Concordia with an average of 2.25 steals a game. 

Then there's Lindsey Becher. Forget improvement between freshman and sophomore campaigns- Becher had already proven she more than belonged at the collegiate level in just her first year residing in it. Last season, the guard led the team in points per game with 14.3 a night. She did a lot more than just score the ball, though. Need rebounds? Becher was good for six of those a night. What about blocks. Well… you'd struggle to find anyone more dependable for those than her. As just a freshman, Becher was already averaging exactly three blocks a game. 

It's been a bit of a tamer start for Becher throughout her sophomore effort, but that's only relative- she's still been a massive contributor. She's paired her 9.3 points a game with 5.4 rebounds and, of course, a healthy helping of blocks- 2.58 a contest, to be exact. That swatting average isn't just the highest in the NSIC- it's the fourth best in the entire country. 

GOLDEN BEARS, GOLDEN BLOCKERS
Perhaps rather predictably, then, the Golden Bears are a pretty notable force as a unit when it comes to their blocking abilities. Becher helps lead a group that averages 6.1 rejections a contest, a mark that places the team at first in the conference and third nationally.

SCOUTING REPORT ON NO. 5 MINNESOTA STATE (11-1 OVERALL, 7-1 CONFERENCE)

THE STARS OF THE SOUTH
As one could probably guess by the fine assortment of numbers (seen above) that they've compiled so far this season, Minnesota State's doing pretty well for themselves when it comes to their in-conference standing. That 7-1 mark is good enough for the Mavericks to sit atop the NSIC South. That means Saturday's contest will be a battle between the finest representatives each division has to offer right now- strap in for a good one. 

COACHING CONVO
Last season, Minnesota State head coach Emilee Thiesse crossed the decade mark as a Maverick. Across what has now been 10 full seasons behind the bench in Mankato, Thiesse's only had two losing seasons to her name. On the other hand… she's won 20+ games on four separate occasions. You'll soon learn that you don't have to look too far back to find the last example of this.

Thiesse's been a perennial winner with Minnesota State. When you add on her work early in this season to the rest of her resume, she's compiled an overall record of 181-107, good for a winning percentage of 62.8%. That's something for the record books- Thiesse's already second all-time in wins in Minnesota State program history. She'd just need 66 more wins to pass the current leading mark of 246 that took Mary Willerscheidt 19 seasons to amass. If current trends continue, it's safe to say it won't take Thiesse that long.

2021-22 IN A NUTSHELL
Last season was one to remember for the Mavericks.

The team finished the year 21-7, tied for the third most wins in the Thiesse era. This was good enough for the Mavericks to close the regular season with NSIC South gold, having won the division with a 16-5 mark in conference play. The team finished third in the NSIC overall. It would be a formidable opponent in UMD that would knock Minnesota State out of the NSIC Tournament in semifinals after a 69-66 barnburner in the Sanford Pentagon. This marked the second straight year the Bulldogs had knocked the Mavericks out of conference postseason play. But Minnesota State's body of work was still strong enough to land them in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014-15. Coincidentally, the Mavericks found themselves matching up against the same first round opponent they'd seen seven years ago- Fort Hays State. Unfortunately for Minnesota State, the outcome would be the same. The Mavericks fell to the Tigers 66-61.  

UP TO BATT
Leading the charge for Minnesota State's hopes at getting another crack at a tournament run is the same player that was pivotal in getting them back there last season: Joey Batt. Last year, as just a sophomore, Batt was Mankato's leading scorer with 15.5 points a night. Doesn't stop there, though. If Batt wasn't shooting, she was generating buckets for others. The guard led all Mavericks with 3.9 assists a game. And if her team found itself without the ball, Batt would get a little impatient- so she'd just steal it back. She averaged a team-high 2.6 steals last season.

It's really only gotten better for Batt thus far in 2022-23. The junior's currently operating at an improved clip of 17.6 points a game on an even more efficient shooting percentage of 50%. That 3.9 assist mark has stayed the exact same through 12 games- meanwhile, Batt's only gotten better at batting the ball away. She's currently averaging 3.25 steals a game this season. That's good for first in the NISC and sixth in the entire country. To top it all off, the guard's working in 3.4 boards a contest for good measure.

(YOUNG) BULLS ON PARADE
It's far from a solo operation in Mankato, though- a pair of underclassmen are making sure of it.

Like Destinee Bursch, for example. This is far from Bursch's first rodeo- as a freshman last season, the guard was already second on the team in scoring behind Batt with 11.6 a night. So far this year, Bursch is again situated at No. 2 in the scoring race, but she's doing it with increased output. The sophomore's averaging 14.9 points a night so far on 47.7% shooting. The guard's also always finding other ways to contribute. She's working at clips of 2.6 assists, three rebounds and 2.4 steals a game right now.

 Next is Natalie Bremer. No frame of reference for the guard- she's busy building one throughout her freshman campaign. So far, so good. Bremer is third on the team in points per game with 14.2. She currently leads the team outright in average rebounds with 4.1 a night. Chuck in a nightly clip of 2.3 steals, while you're at it. 

NATIONAL NOTORIETY
Compile all of Minnesota State's placements in the national landscape together, and you end up with something about as long as a full-on grocery list. 

At the top of the page, the thing circled, underlined and highlighted just so you're sure you won't forget it, is the Mavericks' team scoring metric. Minnesota State scores 85.9 points a game- that's fourth in the country (and first in the NSIC). The team outscores opponents by 23.2 on average- that's again first in the conference while being sixth in the nation.

And it sure doesn't stop there. Someone's got to be setting up all this scoring, right? You bet. The Mavericks are 24th in the country (second in the NSIC) with 16.6 assists a game. It's not a reckless operation, either- Minnesota State's assist/turnover ratio of 1.16 is 22nd in the country, second in the conference.

There's been a lot of talk about steals to this point, too- certainly warranted. The Mavericks snag 16.6 steals a contest right now- that's best not only in the NSIC but in the entire country. All things considered, the Minnesota State defense often ends up with the ball one way or another. The Mavericks are fourth in the country in forced turnovers a game at 25.92. They work at a turnover margin of 11.58 that's second in the country. 

UMD has shown that it's more than capable on the defensive end while also being a pretty responsible team when it finds the ball in its own hands. The Bulldogs will be tested hard- perhaps harder than they have been all year- in each of those respects come Saturday. 

THE BROADCAST
Catch all of the weekend's action live through the NSIC Network by following the links below:
vs Concordia-St. Paul (Friday, Jan. 6 @ 5:30 p.m.): bit.ly/3ZbA5rX
vs Minnesota State (Saturday, Jan. 7 @ 3:30 p.m.): bit.ly/3jJM6EG

UP NEXT
The Bulldogs are back in Romano next weekend- with a pair of themes under their sleeves. First up is Pack the Gym Night (lovingly deemed Project 2028) against Upper Iowa on Friday, Jan. 13 at 5:30 p.m. How about a two-for one on Saturday? Jan. 14's contest against Winona State is billed as both a black out and an 80's night. Might we suggest a Fonz-esque look? Either way, tip-off for that one is set for 3:30 p.m.