Live Stats (SFSU game)Live Video (SFSU game)Live Stats (East Bay game)Live Video (East Bay game)Game notes (pdf)MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team heads to the West Coast for a pair of nonconference contests this week. The Dragons will face San Francisco State at 7 p.m. Central time on Thursday and will wrap up the week against California State-East Bay at 7:30 p.m. Central time on Friday in Hayward, Calif.
MSUM will meet both teams for the first time in school history.
The Dragons opened the season with a pair of losses at the Highway 75 Classic in Moorhead, Minn. MSUM fell to Wisconsin-Parkside, 70-61 on Nov. 14 and then fell to Northern Michigan, 49-45 on Nov. 15. Sophomore guard
Morgan Banasik was named to the all-tournament team.
Junior guard
Meghan Roehrich leads the Dragons at 12.0 points per game, while junior forward
Savanna Handevidt averages 9.0. Junior forward
Heather Strese averages 8.5 points and a team-best 7.5 rebounds per game. Handevidt and junior guard
Jessica Hart each have four assists, while Banasik leads with four steals.
As a team MSUM averages 53 points per game and shoots 32.4 percent from the field. MSUM is shooting just 29.4 percent from three-point range and 66.7 percent from the free-throw line. The Dragons outrebound their foes, 38.0-37.0. The Dragons allow 59.5 points per game on defense.
Karla Nelson is in her 15th season as the MSUM head coach with a record of 240-161 at the school.
About San Francisco StateThe Gators open the season on Thursday against MSUM. They went 1-2 in exhibition games, losing to Division I foes Pacific (84-66) and Santa Clara (87-41) and beating Oregon Tech, 73-66. SFSU lost its top six scorers from a year ago, including Katie Batlin, who led the team in scoring (15.1) and rebounding (7.8). The top returning scorer is senior Michelle Sutton, who averaged 5.1 points per game. In the three exhibition games, Jasmine Flanagan averaged 15.7 points per game while Sutton averaged 11.7. San Francisco State competes in the California Collegiate Athletic Association; the Gators were picked to finish 11th in the 12-team league. Dennis Cox is in his first season as San Francisco State's head coach.
About Cal State-East BayCal State-East Bay is 2-1 on the season. The Pioneers opened with a 71-57 loss to St. Martin's before bouncing back with wins over Western Oregon (66-61) and Dominican (90-72). Stephanie Lopez is averaging 26.9 points per game to lead CSEB while Remy Puou averages 13.3 points per game. Lopez also leads with 7.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. East Bay averages 71.0 points per game and allows 68.3. The Pioneers were picked to finish seventh in the CCAA. Suzy Barcomb is in her fifth season as the Cal State-East Bay head coach with a record of 49-65 at the school.
Roehrich ReturnsRoehrich was the only one of the Dragons' top four scorers to return from last season, and she leads the Dragons so far in 2014 at 12.0 points per game. The Fargo, N.D., scored 19 points in the opening loss to Wisconsin-Parkside.
Ironheart Makes Immediate ImpactJunior college transfer
Cheyenne Ironheart is off to a solid start in her Dragon career. The Peever, S.D., native scored eight points off the bench in each of the Dragons' first two games.
