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MOORHEAD, Minn. -- The Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team opens the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference/Sanford Health Tournament on Wednesday at home against Upper Iowa. Game time is 6 p.m. at Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead, Minn.

The game is part of a women's/men's doubleheader that evening as the Dragon men will host Wayne State at 8 p.m.

Both games will be televised live on WDAY'Z Xtra, which is channel 6.3 over the air. The channel can also be found on Midcontinent Communications cable channel 596 and Cable One channel 29. Live stats, live video and live broadcast with Steve d'Eustachio can be found at msumdragons.com.

The Dragons (15-11, 14-8 NSIC) are the No. 2 seed from the NSIC North Division while Upper Iowa (7-19, 5-17 NSIC) is the No. 7 seed from the south division.

MSUM is 9-15 all-time in NSIC tournament games and are one of three teams (Wayne State and Winona State) to qualify for all 16 conference tournaments. MSUM went 0-1 in the tournament a year ago, losing to Augustana 90-79 in the first round. Two years ago MSUM was 1-1 -- beating Sioux Falls 62-50 before losing at Minnesota State, Mankato 75-57.

MSUM is meeting Upper Iowa for a 17th time and holds a 16-0 series lead. Earlier this season the Dragons topped the Peacocks, 71-67 on Jan. 2 in Moorhead. Junior Heather Strese had 24 points and 14 rebounds to lead MSUM while sophomore guard Morgan Banasik had 16 points.

The Dragons split a pair of games on the road last weekend, beating Bemidji State, 67-52 on Friday before losing at Minnesota Crookston, 79-71 on Saturday. The Dragons were led by junior forward Heather Strese who averaged 19.0 points and 12.5 rebounds for the weekend.

Junior guard Meghan Roehrich leads MSUM at 17.8  points per game while Strese averages 10.9 points and a team-best 6.9 rebounds per game. Sophomore Natalie Van Wyhe averages 4.1 assists per game while sophomore guard Morgan Banasik leads at 1.6 steals per game.  As a team MSUM scores 68.3 points per game and shoots 38.6 percent.
 
MSUM outrebounds its foes 41.8-35.3 while allowing 5.9 points per game on defense. Teams shoot 39.3 percent against the Dragons this season.

Karla Nelson is in her 15th season as MSUM's head coach with a record of 255-170 at the school.

About Upper Iowa
The Peacocks are 7-19 overall and finished 5-17 in the NSIC after losing to Augustana (61-44) and Wayne State (66-52) at home last weekend. Upper Iowa has lost five of its last six games entering Wednesday's clash with the Dragons.

Senior forward Lauren Buck is having a strong year for Upper Iowa, averaging 14.9 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. She has 16 double-doubles, tops in the NSIC. Lindsay Carroll averages 13.3 points per game while Olivia Winkler averages 11.7 points per game and leads the conference in field goal percentage (.541). Carroll leads with 3.3 assists per game. As a team Upper Iowa scores 65.7 points per game and shoots 38.9 percent from the field.

On defense Upper Iowa surrenders 75.3 points per game and teams are shooting 44.3 against the Peacocks this season.

Carol Russell is in her fifth season as Upper Iowa's head coach with a record of 23-112 at the school.