THIS WEEKEND IN PEACOCK BASKETBALL... Upper Iowa returns home this weekend to host a pair of NSIC South Division foes on Friday and Saturday. The Peacocks will welcome the two teams tied for second place in the South Division standing when Concordia University, St. Paul and Minnesota State University, Mankato visit Fayette. The Golden Bears throw the fourth best defense at their opponents in terms of field goal percentage holding them to 37.3%, while the Mavericks boast the top offense in the NSIC averaging 83.2 points per game. Upper Iowa came up on the short end in the teams' first meetings in early December.

LAST WEEK FOR THE GOLDEN BEARS... Anika Whiting helped lead the Golden Bears to two crucial NSIC South wins over Wayne State and Augustana by averaging 21.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.0 steals on the weekend. The Golden Bears outscored the Wildcats 41-18 in the second half of a 69-50 win as they knocked off WSC for the second time this year, handing them their only two losses on the season. Saturday's game against Augustana was a thriller as the Vikings tied the game late to send the game to overtime, but some last second heroics capped by a buzzer-beating three from Jordyn Dudley gave CU an 81-79 overtime win.

LAST WEEK FOR THE #25 MAVERICKS... Minnesota State split this past weekend downing Augustana, 82-64, Friday evening in the Taylor Center before falling 89-82 to Wayne State, snapping its program-best, 24-game home winning streak. With the split, the Mavericks fell to 11-5 overall with a mark of 8-4 in the NSIC. Senior Ali Wilkinson recorded her third straight double-double on Friday evening and averaged 17.5 points and 10.5 rebounds connecting on 41% of her shots from the field.

"KIE" STARTER... Junior Whitney Kieffer has started all 72 games she has played in at Upper Iowa over her first two and a half seasons. Through 16 games this season, she is averaging 17.5 points (59th NCAA/4th NSIC) per game and is now shooting 44.8% (12th NSIC) from the floor and 90.9% (11th NCAA/3rd NSIC) from the free throw line. Kieffer also adds 5.3 rebounds, 2.2 steals (4th NSIC) and 1.9 assists per game for the Peacocks. The 5'9" guard continues her climb up the all-time scoring list at UIU with 1,251 points (72 games - 17.4 ppg). Kieffer is now just 180 points shy of the all-time leader in points, Hall of Famer Vicky (Ringeberg) Rarick (1995-99) with 1,431. In second place is Hall of Famer Walida (Hawkins) Hewitt (1993-97) with 1,424.

IN "SAM" WE TRUST... The Peacocks' lone senior, Sam Thrapp, is directing the Peacock offense with 4.6 assists per game (4th NSIC). She tied a career-high in assists against Minot State University with 12 on Jan. 10, while earning her first double-double. The Davenport, Iowa product is adding 10 points per game while shooting 40.3% (25-62) from behind the three-point line.

GLASS CLEANERS... Upper Iowa's positive 3.9 rebound margin is fourth best in the NSIC, but four Peacocks share the load led by junior Lauren Buck (7.1-16th NSIC). Freshman Emily Gustafson (6.0), Kieffer (5.3) and sophomore Carly Pagel (5.2) all pull down their fair share as well.

FROM BEHIND THE "HARK"... Junior Laura TerHark has been finding the range from deep lately. The Algona, Iowa native is hitting 26.9% of her three's on the season, but over the last four games TerHark has converted 7 of 16 (43.8%) from behind the arc. During that time she is averaging 5.3 points per game.