Women's Basketball | 2/22/2022 2:35:00 PM

Live Video
Live Stats
Full game notes (pdf)

The Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team opens Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference/Sanford Health Tournament play on Wednesday at Southwest Minnesota State. Tipoff is 6 p.m. at the R/A Facility in Marshall, Minn.

MSUM is 17-22 all-time in NSIC tournament play. The Dragons have never won a conference tournament title but have qualified for the tournament every year -- including all 22 years of Karla Nelson's head coaching era.

The Dragons lost to Augustana, 77-63 in the tournament quarterfinals in 2021.

MSUM and SMSU have an all-time series dating back to 1973. The Dragons hold a 44-41 edge all-time. SMSU ended a nine-game losing streak to the Dragons on Feb. 7, 2020 with a 66-61 win in Marshall.

The Dragons ended the regular season strong with a pair of wins over UMary (76-73, OT) and Minot State (71-64). In both games, the Dragons rallied from double-digit deficits. The victories allowed MSUM to finish in fourth in the NSIC North Division.

Junior Peyton Boom is having an outstanding season for MSUM, leading the team in scoring (15.9 ppg) and rebounding (7.1). She had scored in double figures in 18 of the 21 games she has played this season.

Freshman guard Natalie Jens is averaging 10.3 points per game while sophomore guard Mariah McKeever averages 10.0 points per game.  Senior guard Natalie Steichen averages 3.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game.

Karla Nelson is in her 22nd season as head coach at Minnesota State University Moorhead.

About SMSU

SMSU split to conclude the regular season, beating Wayne State, 72-50 on Feb. 17 before losing at Augustana, 74-64 on Feb. 19.

Meleah Reinhart averages 14.7 points per game to lead SMSU while Sadie Stelter averages 12.8. Aubk Akoi averages 8.6 points per game. Stelter and Akoi lead at 5.5 rebounds per game while Akoi leads at 2.2 assists per game. Akoi also blocks 2.7 shots per game.

Tom Webb is in his sixth season as the SMSU head coach.