THIS WEEK IN PEACOCK WOMEN'S HOOPS… Upper Iowa is the NSIC South Division's No. 8 seed in this year's NSIC/Sanford Health Basketball Tournament that kicks off on Wednesday evening. The Peacocks will match up with Minnesota State University Moorhead, the No. 1 seed from the NSIC North, at 5:30 p.m. in Moorhead, Minn. MSUM enters the postseason among teams receiving votes in the latest D2SIDA poll, and was ranked 4^th in the first NCAA Division II Central Region Rankings. The winner of the UIU/MSUM game will face the victor of the Winona State University (South #4) and Minot State University (North #5) matchup on Saturday, Mar. 2 at 12 p.m.
 
LIVE OPTIONS… Fans who can't make it to the game have several options to follow the action from home or on the go through the links above or UIUPeacocks.com/Live. Webcast and live stats will be available for both matches. The games can be streamed live on the NSIC Channel through Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple and Android TV's.
 
EARLIER THIS SEASON… Upper Iowa and MSU Moorhead went head-to-head in a tightly contested battle on January 5^th that saw the Dragons pull away in the final minutes to capture a 58-46 NSIC victory. After the Dragons captured a 20-12 lead in the first ten minutes, both teams exchanged single-digit scoring frames in a defensive battle. UIU outscored the Dragons 10-6 in the second quarter thanks to solid defense that held MSUM to 15.8 percent shooting from the floor, but the tables turned in the third quarter as the Dragons held a 14-8 scoring advantage and forced the Peacocks into four of their season-low nine turnovers. Upper Iowa used its last bit of fight to cut the gap to three, 42-39, with 7:26 left in the game but MSUM ended UIU's upset hopes with a 16-7 run to close out the game ahead by 12. Savannah Domeyer filled the stat sheets with nine points, eight rebounds, five blocks, and one assist to lead the Peacocks while Laker Ward finished with eight points, three rebounds, and two assists.
 
MARTIN'S MILESTONE… With an offensive rebound late in the fourth quarter against Minnesota State University, Mankato on Friday, Haley Martin became the sixth Peacock to haul in 500 career rebounds since Upper Iowa made the switch to NCAA Division II. The rebound put the finishing touches on her third career double-double as she finished the game with 10 rebounds and a career-high 16 points. The Mound, Minn. product finished her senior campaign with 183 total rebounds, the 10^th highest total in the league this season.  
 
BLOCK PARTY… Upper Iowa finished the regular season ranked 2^nd on the NSIC leaderboard for total blocked shots. The Peacocks collectively turned away 113 opponent shots, a new program-best for UIU's NCAA Division II era. Nine Peacocks contributed to the season total including two of the league's top-15 blockers in Domeyer and Ally Fink. Domeyer swatted away 43 shots for a 1.8 per game average that ranked third in the conference while Fink blocked 25 shots for a 0.9 average that tied for 11^th in the regular season standings.
 
SCOUTING THE DRAGONS… MSU Moorhead (23-5, 19-3 NSIC) put the finishing touches on a NSIC Championship 3-peat with a win over the University of Mary last Saturday. MSUM won the league regular season and north division titles outright by one game over the University of Minnesota Duluth. The Dragons were led by Megan Hintz's 15^th double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds, an effort that earned the junior NSIC North Division Player of the Week honors for the third week in a row. Hintz averages a double-double of 15.3 points (7^th in NSIC) and 10.4 rebounds (1^st in NSIC) per game this season and leads the team with 20 blocks. Kiley Borowicz and Jacky Volkert both average double-digits with 15.3 and 14.5 points, respectively. Borowicz leads the team with 1.6 steals per game and Volkert dishes out a team-high and league-high 4.6 assists. The Dragons average 68.4 points per game while opponents average 58.8 points. MSUM outrebounds opponents by 8.4 boards per contest, the highest margin in the NSIC.