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Weekly Notes
Upper Iowa | MSU Moorhead | Northern Sun
TONIGHT IN PEACOCK BASKETBALL... The Peacocks are in Moorhead, Minnesota for Wednesday night's first round match up in the NSIC/Sanford Health Basketball Tournament. Upper Iowa heads into the contest as the seventh seed in the Northern Sun's South Division, while the Dragons obtained the second seed in the NSIC North. The winner of tonight's game will head to The Pentagon in Sioux Falls for a quarterfinals game against the winner of the Winona State (#3 South) - U-Mary (#6 North) contest.
EARLY JANUARY MEETING... The Dragons own a strangle hold on the season series with the Peacocks; MSU Moorhead has won all 16 games against Upper Iowa, but UIU will still have confidence heading back to Nemzek Fieldhouse after their only meeting this season came down to just a four-point difference. The Dragons outlasted the Peacocks back on Jan. 2 for a 71-67 victory in the first game of the New Year for both teams. A scoring drought over the final two minutes of the first half allowed the Dragons to pull ahead by eight, 32-24, at the break. MSU Moorhead's lead shrunk to a single possession on a few occasions in the second half, but the Dragons continued to answer to push it back to seven or eight points. Thanks to a quick 7-0 run fueled by an
Ashley Rosenstiel three, a jumper from
Lauren Buck and a fastbreak layup by
Olivia Meier, UIU took a 55-54 lead. Minutes later, an
Olivia Winkler three-point play knotted the score at 61-61 with just over three minutes to play. In the end, the Dragons knocked down a key three-pointer after two offensive rebounds and converted four free throws in the last 20 seconds to ice the game. Upper Iowa held MSUM to 38.6% shooting (27-70) overall and just 21.1% (4-19) from behind the arc, but the Dragons pulled down 20 offensive rebounds giving them edge in both second chance points (22 to 4) and points in the paint (42 to 20). Buck led UIU with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including 4-of-7 from deep, and added 12 rebounds and 5 blocks. Winkler had 14 points and 8 rebounds, while
Lindsay Carroll chipped in 12 points, 7 boards and 5 assists.
THIS DRAGONS' ON FIRE… Heather Strese averaged double-double for the week at 19.0 points and 12.5 rebounds per game to help Dragon women split on the road. She finished with 20 points and a career-high 16 rebounds in 67-52 win over Bemidji State on Friday and then followed with 18 points and nine rebounds in loss at Minnesota Crookston on Saturday. Strese shot 51.9 percent (14-27) from the field, including 62.5 percent (5-8) from three-point range.
NSIC LEADERS… Lauren Buck and
Olivia Winkler are leading four NSIC categories. Buck is averaging the most defensive rebounds (9, 6th NCAA) and total rebounds per game (11.1, 20th NCAA) and has the most double-doubles (16, 11th NCAA) this season. Winkler leads the conference in field goal percentage (54.1%, 25th NCAA). Both Buck (82.1%) and
Lindsay Carroll (86.4%) are in the top ten of the NSIC in free throw shooting, while Carroll is eighth in the conference in assists per game (3.2).
