Women's Basketball | 3/8/2017 1:23:00 PM
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MOORHEAD, Minn. — The No. 17-ranked Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team opens NCAA Central Region Tournament play on Friday against Central Missouri. Game time is 7:30 p.m. in Searcy, Ark. It is the fourth NCAA tournament appearance for the Dragon women.
MSUM and Central Missouri will meet for a third time with the Dragons leading the all-time series 2-0. The last meeting was in Nov. 2015 in Las Vegas when the Dragons prevailed 63-58.
Live stats and live video links can be found at the #DragonsMarchOn Championship Central on msumdragons.com.
About the Dragons
The Dragons (24-4), ranked No. 17 in the latest WBCA poll, lost in their last outing on Feb. 25 to Sioux Falls, 54-45 in the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament quarterfinals. Freshman
Megan Hintz led MSUM with 10 points.
Junior forward
Drew Sannes leads MSUM at 15.3 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, while junior guard
Cassidy Thorson averages 14.5 points per game. Sophomore
Jacky Volkert averages 12.4 points per game and leads with 139 assists. Senior guard
Natalie Van Wyhe leads the NSIC in assist to turnover ratio and has a team-best 36 steals.
The Dragons allow 57.4 points per game, second-best in the NSIC. Teams are shooting only 37.5 percent against the Dragons this season. MSUM outrebounds its foes 38.2-32.01and scores 70.5 points per game.
Karla Nelson is in her 17th season as the MSUM head coach with a record of 302-181 at the school.
About Central Missouri
The Jennies (23-6) lost in the MIAA tournament semifinals to eventual champion Emporia State, 58-50. They finished 15-4 in conference games.
Sophomore guard Paige Redmond averages 16.6 points and 3.8 assists per game to lead UCM, while freshman forward Morgan Fleming averages 11.9 points per game. Junior forward Kayonna Lee leads at 8.9 rebounds per game while senior Ashley Duffy averages 9.7 points.
UCM averages 71.0 points per game and shoots 42.6 percent from the field. The Jennies outrebound their foes 35.2-33.6 and allow 58.4 points per game.
Dave Slifer is in his 13th season as UCM's head coach with a record of 250-135 at the school. In 28 years as a head coach he has a record of 634-234.
MSUM in the NCAA Tournament
MSUM is 1-3 in the NCAA tournament during Head Coach
Karla Nelson's tenure.
MSUM's first appearance in the NCAA D2 tournament was in 2004-05, when the Dragons lost to St. Cloud State, 79-57 in the opening round.
The second appearance in the tournament came in 2007, when the Dragons lost to North Dakota, 98-66 in the first round.
The Dragons won their first NCAA tournament game on March 13, 2009 with a 67-54 win over Nebraska-Kearney. MSUM fell in the second round to Minnesota State, 59-39.
