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MOORHEAD, Minn. -- The Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team opens play in the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament on Wednesday at Augustana. Game time for the first-round game is at 7 p.m. at the Elmen Center in Sioux Falls, S.D.

MSUM (16-10) is the No. 5 seed out of the NSIC's North Division while Augustana (15-11) is the fourth seed out of the south division.  The Dragons are one of only three teams to have qualified for all 15 NSIC tournaments, and MSUM is 2-4 all-time in first-round road games in the tournament.

MSUM and Augustana will meet for a 20th time with the Vikings holding a 13-6 series lead. The Dragons beat the Vikings, 78-76 in Sioux Falls on Feb. 14, thanks to a late basket from senior Morgan Zabel.

Listen to Thunder 106.1 FM and Steve d'Eustachio for a live radio broadcast of Wednesday's game.

About MSUM
The Dragons went 0-2 at home last weekend, falling to Minot State (78-56) and Mary (78-62). The loss to Minot ended a six-game winning streak for MSUM.

Senior Morgan Zabel leads MSUM at 15.7 points per game, while senior forward Megan Strese averages 13.5 points and a team-best 8.8 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Meghan Roehrich averages 11.6 points per game and is shooting a team-best 89.7 percent from the foul line. Senior guard Haley Thomforde leads with 3.4 assists per game.

MSUM scores 70.8 points per game and is shooting 41.6 percent from the field. The Dragons hit 35.5 percent from three-point range, third-best in the NSIC. MSUM outrebounds its foes, 39.8-32.5 and allows 69.1 points per contest. Opponents are shooting 41.5 percent against the Dragons this year.

Karla Nelson is in her 14th season as MSUM's head coach with a record of 240-158 at the school.

About Augustana
The Vikings finished the regular season with a 15-11 mark. They split on the road last weekend, beating Upper Iowa, 97-93 before losing to Winona State, 84-76.

Shaunteva Ashley leads the Vikings at 17.9 points and 4.3 assists per game. Emily Schulte is at 13.7 points per game, while Rhianna Gullickson is at 13.0 and Riley Nordgaard at 12.9. Nordgaard leads at 7.5 rebounds per game.

Augustana scores 81.1 points per game and shoots 41.3 percent from the field, including 31.9 percent from three-point range. The Vikings are being outrebounded, 41.4.39.3 by their opponents. Teams score 74.6 points per game against Augustana and shoot 42.7 percent against the Vikings.

Dave Krauth is in his 25th season as Augustana's head coach with a record of 508-227 at the school.

Winning Under Nelson
Karla Nelson is in her 14th season as MSUM's head coach and has never had a losing season at MSUM in her tenure. This year is no different as Nelson has guided MSUM to a 16-10 mark to extend the streak to 14 winning seasons in a row. The Dragons have averaged 17.1 wins per season under Nelson.

Century Club
The three Dragon seniors -- Megan Strese, Haley Thomforde and Morgan Zabel -- all have surpassed 100 games played at MSUM. Strese and Zabel are at 108 games each while Thomforde is at 106.

Strese and Zabel Join 1,000-Point Club
Megan Strese became the Dragons' 20th player to reach 1,000 career points during MSUM's loss to No. 17 Minnesota State on Jan. 11, 2014. Strese scored less than two minutes into the game to surpass 1,000 for her career. She now has 1,197 career points, 11th-best all-time. She is three points away from becoming the 11th Dragon women's player to reach 1,200 career points.

Days later, senior Zabel became the 21st women's player to hit 1,000 career points with her basket in the closing minutes in the win over Winona State on Feb. 1. Zabel is at 1,101 points for her career, 15th-best in school history.

Thomforde Climbs the Assist Ladder
Haley Thomforde climbed into the top 10 in career assists earlier this season. She is now at 333 career assists with two games left in the regular season, a number that ranks her sixth all-time in school history. Thomforde is just two assists from fifth-place Kristin Engledorf.

Dragons Rank in Free Throws
MSUM ranks third in the nation in free-throw percentage at 79.5 percent.  Roehrich is 11th in the nation at 89.7 percent

Ruling the Boards
The Dragons are proving to be an effective rebounding team in 2013-14. They ranked 15th in the nation in rebounding margin (+7.2), thanks in part to the work on the boards from senior forward Megan Strese, who leads the team at 8.8 rebounds per game.