MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead Dragon men and women's basketball teams travel to Wayne State and Augustana College on Saturday, Dec. 17 and Sunday, Dec. 18 for their first road weekend of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play.

DRAGON WOMEN
The Dragon women's basketball team is now 4-3 on the season and 1-2 in the NSIC. They dropped their most recent game to the University of Minnesota, Crookston on Dec. 10. 

Going into the half, the Dragons led the Golden Eagles 31-28 after senior guard Brittany Mayclin made two free throws.

At the start of the second half, the dragons had a quick 6-0 run to gain a nine point lead. However, after a quick timeout, a couple jumpers and a three-pointer, the Golden Eagles had tied the game at 39.

During the next six minutes of play the game remained close. But with nine minutes left in regulation, UMC made a quick layup after the media timeout and never looked back.

Even though the Dragons were able to keep it close, the Golden Eagles had already pulled away and took the victory 67-59.

Senior Angie Jetvig with 21 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots led the Dragons.  Junior guard Marisa Yernatich was behind Jetvig with 11 points, going 3-of-5 from the three-point line. Sophomore guard Haley Thomforde also added nine points.

During the 2010-2011 season, the Dragon women's basketball team met with Augustana and Wayne State each twice. They split with Augie, winning by three at home on Dec. 18, 2010 and lost both games to Wayne State.

The Dragon will face the Wildcats of Wayne State on Saturday at 4 p.m. with the same tip-off time against the Vikings of Augustana on Sunday.

WAYNE WOMEN
The Wayne State Wildcat women's basketball team suffered the first loss of the season this last Saturday, Dec. 10 to the University of Mary (N.D.) 64-72.  

At the start of the second half the Wildcats were only three behind Mary. However, after a 16-to-2 run, Mary had a 17-point lead over Wayne with 13 minutes still left to play.

From here, Mary coasted to the win. The Wildcats were able to make a small comeback, but still dropped the game by eight. They were lead by senior forward Ashley Arlen with 14 points and nine rebounds, senior guard Clare Duwelius with 11 points and six rebounds and freshman guard Ashton Yossi had 11 points.

Arlen leads the team with an average of 20.4 points per game and 9.1 rebounds per game. Senior guard Ali Schwartzwald leads the team in assists and steals with four and 2.2 per game, respectively.

AUGIE WOMEN
The Augustana College Vikings women's basketball team has gone 6-2 so far this season and 3-1 in the NSIC. On Saturday, Dec. 10 they took on fellow NSIC opponent Northern State University, but lost the game 61-53.

The Vikings led the entire game until there were only 10 minutes left in the second period. From there NSU went on a 19-11 run and won the game by eight.

Junior guard Faith Tinkleberg led the team with 15 total points followed by senior guard Molly Hayes with 13 points. Junior forwards Lydia Nelson and Alex Feeney added eight points each.

Feeney leads the team with 14.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. Hayes leads the way in assists with 3.8 per game and sophomore guard Emily Schulte leads the team in steals per game with 3.4.

NSIC
There is not an unbeaten team in the conference. Wayne States record of 9-1, 3-1 NSIC has earned them the No. 1 position. Augustana is No. 2 behind Wayne with their 6-2, 3-1 NSIC record. MSU Moorhead is currently No. 10 in the conference behind Winona State University.

DRAGON MEN
The Dragon men continue to stay undefeated (7-0, 3-0 NSIC) after they last defeated the University of Minnesota, Crookston on Dec. 10 in a close battle 64-61. 

Both teams put up a good fight in the first half. The score bounced back and forth, a new team taking the lead with each basket scored.

With only a minute left to play, the Golden Eagles had a 33-30 lead over the Dragons. However, DJ Hamilton was able to hit a big three with only two seconds left on the clock to make the score 33-33, the eighth tie of the game.

The second half of the game was just as close as the first one. The score was tied for the twelfth time at 61 with only three minutes on the game clock. After a Golden Eagle timeout, senior Andrew VanHavermaet hit a long bomb from behind the arc giving the Dragons a three-point edge.

Despite four attempts by UMC they were not able to answer VanHavermaets three and MSU Moorhead hailed victorious with a final score of 64-61.  The Dragons were led in scoring by junior forward Jake Lindfors with 20 total points.

Other contributors for the Dragons were senior guard Charlie Chapman with 13 points and junior forward Alex Novak with 12 points and 10 rebounds. VanHavermaet was also a key player for the Dragons going 3-for-4 from behind the arc for nine total points.

Last season the Dragon men defeated Augustana in both of the teams meetings, but dropped both games to the Wayne state Wildcats.

The Dragons begin action following the women's games Saturday at Wayne State and Sunday at Augustana.

WAYNE MEN
The Wayne State men's basketball team is currently 2-6 overall on the season and 1-3 in the NSIC. On a one-game win streak, their most recent win came on Saturday, Dec. 10 against the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D.  The Wildcats took the game in a close battle 58-55.

The Wildcats led most of the game, but with only a couple minutes left to play Mary went on a small run and pulled within three, but were not able to close out the game.

Junior guard Amry Shelby led the team with 21 total points, hitting 6-out-of-7 shots from the three-point line and six rebounds. Junior forward Darrel Williams and freshman center Nick Wuebker followed behind Shelby with 11 and 10 points, respectively.  

Shelby leads the team in scoring with 15.3 points per game, Williams leads the team with six rebounds per game and 1.4 steals per game and senior guard Vontrell Seroyer leads the team in assists per game with 3.4.

AUGIE MEN
The Augustana men are also off to a good start this season. They are 7-1 on the season and 4-0 in the NSIC. Their only loss of the season thus far came in mid November against Western Oregon.

Most recently they defeated Northern State University 76-68 on Saturday, Dec. 10.  Leading only by six at the half. Both teams played evenly throughout the second half and Augie took the game by eight.

Junior guard Cameron McCaffery led Augustana with 20 total points. Senior guard Cody Schilling added 14 points and six rebounds along with sophomore forward Yuriy Malashenko adding 12 points and six rebounds.

Schilling leads the team in points per game with 16. Senior forward Derrick De Zeeuw leads the team in rebounds with 5.6 and Drae Murray is on top with 3.9 assists and 2.8 steals per game.
 
NSIC
Currently the Augustana men are ranked No. 1 in the NSIC followed immediately by MSU Moorhead. Wayne State is No.12 behind Minnesota State Mankato and the University of Mary.