Women's Basketball | 11/12/2015 5:22:00 PM
Live Video (MSUM-NNU game)Live Video (MSUM-UCM game)MOORHEAD, Minn. – Following an exhibition win over St. Catherine's on Nov. 5, the Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team travels to Las Vegas for their first competition of the regular season. The Dragons will play Northwest Nazarene at 1 p.m. Central time on Saturday and will conclude the weekend against Central Missouri on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. CT.
Both games are nonconference.
MSUM and Northwest Nazarene will meet for a first time in school history while MSUM will meet Central Missouri for a second time. The Dragons beat UCM in the 1992-93 season by a 74-64 in the only previous meeting between the two schools.
Head coach
Karla Nelson, who is in her 16th season as MSUM head coach, leads the Dragons. In her time at MSUM, the Dragons have never had a losing season. Last season, the Dragons went 17-12 overall, with a 14-8 record in conference play. Their season came to an end in the conference tournament with an 81-59 loss to Wayne State College.
Senior forwards
Savanna Handevidt and
Heather Strese anchor the Dragon roster. Strese averaged 12.1 points per game, second-most on the team last season, and led the team with 7.1 rebounds per game. Handevidt averaged 8.2 points and 5.3 rebounds per game and is entering her fourth year as a starter.
Junior guard
Morgan Banasik enters her third year as a starter after averaging 8.5 points per game a year ago. Junior guard
Natalie Van Wyhe also returns as a starting point guard after leading the team with 114 assists last season. Junior guard
Jessica Hart, sophomore forward
Drew Sannes, sophomore guard
Cassidy Thorson, sophomore forward
Shannon Galegher and sophomore guard
Mikayla Payne also return with experience. The Dragons have added three freshmen to their roster: forward
Madison Brekke, guard
Maren Soupir and guard
Jacky Volkert. Sophomore forward
Dierra Diegel, who transferred from Northern State, also joins the team but will sit out the 2015-16 season because of NSIC transfer rules.
MSUM's home opener is set for Nov. 19 against Mayville State (6 p.m.). The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opener is Nov. 24 at home against Northern State.
About Northwest NazareneLast season, the Crusaders posted a 7-20 overall record, with a 5-13 mark in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. This year's team returns senior guard Taylor Simmons, who led the Crusaders last season when she averaged 13.7 points per game. A GNAC Preseason All-Conference selection, Simmons totaled 105 assists. Joining her will be fellow seniors Cierra White, Kelli Christenson, and Katie Swanson, who averaged 4.8 points per game last season. Sophomore guard Ellie Logan was also named to the preseason all-conference team. The Crusaders, who were picked to finish sixth in the GNAC in the preseason coaches poll, are led by head coach Ryan Bragdon, who is in his third season at the helm.
About Central MissouriCentral Missouri finished 21-9 last year and 13-6 in the MIAA. The Jennies lost four starters from last year's team. UCM returns guard Shelby Winkelmann, who led the team by averaging 15 points per game last season. A first-team All-MIAA selection last year, Winkelmann also led with 80 assists. Redshirt senior Danielle Barry will also look to lead the Jennies, after she averaged 4.5 points per game last season, while averaging 12.9 minutes per game. Dave Slifer is in his 12th season as head coach with a record of 216-111 at the school.
