MOORHEAD, Minn. -- In their third game in five days, MSUM's women's basketball team (7-6, 4-5 NSIC) will host Northern State (9-6, 4-5 NSIC) on Tuesday evening at 5:30 p.m. It will be the second meeting between the two school this season. 

The game was initially scheduled for December 31, but was postponed and rescheduled as part of the NSIC's response to winter weather in the area in mid-December.

Sophomore Natalie Jens leads the Dragons in scoring as she averages 15.8 points per game. Jens is coming off a weekend that saw her score a season high 29 points against Wayne State on Friday night. Jens leads the team in total assists with 35 as well. Peyton Boom commands the glass for the Dragons, averaging 7.8 per game. 

Karla Nelson is in her 23rd season as head coach of MSUM. Going into Tuesday's tilt, the Dragon head coach has 392 career wins.

Boom!

Senior Peyton Boom is coming off another solid weekend of play as the Dragons split their weekend set with Wayne State and Augustana. In MSUM's win over Wayne State on Friday, the center tallied 17 points and 18 rebounds on 50 percent shooting from the field. Boom's 18 rebounds were a new career high, besting her previous mark of 16 rebounds set on February 17, 2022 against UMary. Of those 18 rebounds, 12 of them were offensive rebounds. 

Crashing The Glass

MSUM continues to dominate the glass in 2022-23 as the Dragons possess the best rebounding margin in the NSIC. On average, the Dragons snare nearly seven more rebounds than their opponents. That margin is currently 31st in the nation as MSUM outrebounded Wayne State on Friday night 47-26, a 21 rebound margin. The Dragons are also third in the league in offensive rebounds per game (11.8), grabbing 20 offensive rebounds in the win over the Wildcats.

Super Jens

Sophomore guard Natalie Jens is having a tremendous stretch offensively for the Dragons right now. In the last four games, Jens is averaging 19.3 points per game while shooting 41.9 percent from the floor in that span. The Beaver Dam, Wis., native has also made nine three-pointers across those four games at a 42.9 percent clip. Jens scored 23 points against Minnesota Duluth on January 1 before scoring 29 points this past Friday against Wayne State. Her total against the Wildcats is her season high so far. 

Buckling Down

The Dragons still have one of the top defenses in the Northern Sun, only surrendering 59 points per game to opponents so far this season. Teams have also shot just 38.3 percent from the field and 27.7 percent from long range so far this season. MSUM has only given up 70 or more points on two occasions this season and they have held teams to 60 points or fewer six different times in 2022-23.

Know Your Enemy

The Wolves are coming into Tuesday's game confident after securing two valuable NSIC wins this past weekend. Northern State defeated Augustana Friday night thanks to a buzzer beater as time expired. The Wolves followed that performance up with a 66-60 win over Wayne State inside Wachs Arena on Saturday afternoon. That puts the Wolves at 9-6 on the season and 4-5 in the NSIC. Northern State defeated MSUM in their first match-up, 59-58 where they outrebounded the Dragons 41-32.

Northern State is led by Kailee Oliverson who averages 12.4 points per game with Laurie Rogers scoring an additional 11.9 points per game for the Wolves. Rogers leads the team with 7.7 rebounds a contest while Rianna Fillipi bolsters a team-high 52 assists. The Wolves shoot just 39.5 percent from the field and 27.2 percent from long distance, which is the lowest mark in the conference. Northern State has a top-five NSIC defense statistically, only giving up 61.3 points per game to opponents. 

Paula Krueger is in her fifth season at Northern State.