This Week in Peacock Basketball… Upper Iowa, the NSIC South Division's 7-seed, takes the floor on Wednesday in Moorhead, Minn. at 6 p.m. against the Dragons of Minnesota State University Moorhead, the North Division's 2-seed, in the opening round game of the NSIC/Sanford Health Basketball Tournament.  The winner of the UIU/MSUM game will face the winner of the Augustana (South #3)/Minot State (North #6) matchup on Sunday at 8 p.m. at The Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.
 
Call Upon the Leaders… Four upperclassmen have led the squad this season in most categories.  Seniors Aleesha Cleaver and Whitney Kieffer are scoring 13.1 and 12.8 points per game, while junior Carly Pagel and Sam Ofstad are netting 9.1 and 7.0 points a contest.  On the glass, Kieffer is averaging a team-high 5.5 rebounds, while Pagel is pulling down 5.1 per game.  Ofstad and Cleaver are pacing the offense with 2.2 and 1.9 assists per game, respectively, while Kieffer is handing out 1.5 assists each game.
 
Scouting the Dragons… MSU Moorhead (20-5, 17-5 NSIC) was ranked seventh in the initial NCAA Central Region rankings after sharing the NSIC North Division title thanks to a pair of home wins over Bemidji State (74-58) and Minnesota Crookston (75-69) to close out the regular season.  Junior Morgan Banasik averages 14.7 points per game to lead MSUM, while senior Heather Strese is adding 13.2 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.  Senior Savanna Handevidt averages 10.1 points and a team-best 7.8 rebounds per game, while junior guard Natalie Van Wyhe averages 2.8 assists per game. The Dragons score 69.8 points per game while shooting 40.7 percent from the field.  They post a rebound margin of +5.6 while allowing only 60.7 points per game to their opponents.
 
Quest for the Pentagon…The 2016 NSIC/Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament begins tonight as the 22-game regular season ended Saturday night and the quest to lift the NSIC/ Sanford Health Championship Trophy will begin tonight.  Winona State (27-2, 20-2 NSIC) won the NSIC Overall and South Division Championships.  Northern State (21-6, 17-5 NSIC) earned the No. 1 seed in the north division. NSU and MSUM shared the NSIC North Division Championship, but NSU earned the top seed by having a better division record.  The top four seeds in each division will host the 5-8 seeds from the opposite division on Wednesday, Feb. 24.  The quarterfinals, semifinals and championship will all take at the Sanford Pentagon from Sunday through Tuesday.