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LAST GAME: Looking to avenge their 74-73 loss to Minot State (8-6, 4-6 NSIC) on Dec. 1, U-Mary responded with a 70-58 victory (box score pg. 8). Starting out slow the Marauders ex­ploded in the second half scoring 45 points on 58 percent shooting from the field. Scoring all 12 of her points in the period, Lindsey Sand sparked the Marauders off the bench in the second half shooting 4-5 from the field and 4-5 from the line. Ali Collins was dominant for the Marauders scoring 24 points on 10-15 shooting and pulling in a career-high 14 rebounds. Playing 39 minutes, Collins also added five assists and two blocked shots.
 
This weekend U-Mary will be on the road as they take on #12 Augustana College and #22 Wayne State College.
 
THE RECORDS: Augustana is 12-2 overall and 8-2 in the Northern Sun. Augustana is in first place in the South Division and first overall in the NSIC. Wayne State at 10-4 overall and 6-4 in the conference, is fourth in the South Division and 6th overall.
 
ALL-TIME: The U-Mary is 3-7 all-time against Augustana and 3-10 against Wayne State.
 
RECENT HISTORY: U-Mary has lost three straight games against the Vikings including a 78-67 loss to Augustana in the Northern Sun tournament. Wayne State and U-Mary split last season, each winning at home. The Marauder win over the #4 Wildcats last season was the highest ranked team U-Mary has defeated in program history.
 
UPSET: In last year's upset of Wayne State, U-Mary was lead by a dominant inside presence of injured post Linda Murray. Murray scored 20 points and added 14 rebounds (seven offensive). Shaunna Knife came up big as well scoring 16 points and grabbing six rebounds. As a team the Marauders held a 48-31 rebounding advantage.
 
FOLLOW ALONG: As always you can find streaming video at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/umary, and streaming audio at espn710am.com. Live stats for the Augustana game can be found at http://www.augie.edu/athletics/wbasketball/xlive.htm and for the Wayne State game at http://www.wsc.edu/athletics/mediastats/basketball/xlive.htm.
 
ROAD TEST: Rick Neumann is looking to win his first game over a ranked team. The first year Head Coach is 0-1 on the season against ranked opponents (80-60 vs. #3 Pitt. State). Neumann and the Marauders will have two chances this weekend as they take on #12 Augustana and #22 Wayne State.
 
Augustana- The preseason favorite, Augustana, has lived up to expectations starting Northern Sun play with a record of 8-2 (12-2 overall). Ranked 12th in the nation, the Vikings, are the second highest scoring team in the nation averaging 81.7 points per/game. Allowing just 57.1 points a game defensively, Augustana is also second in the nation in scoring margin with a +24.6 point average. The Vikings are also ranked in the top 10 in the nation in field goal defense (.323), assists/turnover ration (1.34) and three-point field goals per game (8.6). Augustana success has come from a well-balanced attack. All five of the Vikings' starter are averaging 9.8 points or more. Augie in scoring and rebounding is senior F Alex Feeney. Named All-NSIC 1st Team last season, Feeney has scored in double digits in ten straight game. Augustana is on a three game winning streak including a 73-50 win over Wayne State las weekend.
 
Wayne State- Last years NSIC tournament champion, Wayne State is 6-4 in the Northern Sun (10-4 overall) and ranked 22nd in the country. The Wildcats rank 7th in the Northern Sun in scoring (66.5) and 5th in scoring defense (58.1). WSC has shot the ball well from the field (.411) but struggles from beyond the arc (.297). Losing their top player from a year ago, the Wildcats have leaned on a pair of sophomore to shoulder the load. On the perimter Ashton Yossi has lead the attack scoring 14.3 points per game and hitting a team high 30 three-point baskets. Inside 5-11 Jordan Spencer is leading the way with 18.4 points per game (shooting 52.8%) and 7.1 rebounds. Snapping their 52-game home winning streak on Jan. 4, Wayne has now lost two of their last three at home including a lopsided 73-50 loss to Augustana last weekend.
 
ALUMNI WEEKEND: U-Mary women's basketball will hold an Alumni Weekend on Friday and Saturday, January 25-26. On Friday there is the Coaches Luncheon at 12 noon. That night U-Mary will take on Minnesota Duluth at 6PM at the McDowell Activity Center. On Saturday both the men and women will be playing their alumni game beginning at 9AM. Alumni will be honored that night as the Marauders take on the St. Cloud State Huskies at 4PM.
 
BOMBS AWAY: With 8.4 three-point field goals per game the Marauders average the 12th most in the country. U-Mary has attempted 20 or more three pointers in 10 of their 15 games this season. One of the two game in which they did not attempt 20 was in their 14 of 19 effort against Dakota State. It is not just about volume for the Marauders as they are 11th in the country in three-point percentage at 38.3. On the season the Marauders are 7-0 when they make 10 or more three-point field goals. In U-Mary's ten wins they have shot 43 percent from deep, but in their five losses have shot just 29 percent.
 
BLOCK PARTY: With 5.2 blocks per game the Marauders are 15th in the country and tops among Northern Sun teams. The Marauders had 10 blocks against St. Cloud State, which tied U-Mary's single game record since joining the NCAA. Incidentally the other time the Marauders had 10 blocks was also against St. Cloud State (2/18/12). Shaunna Knife has led the attack leading the Northern Sun in blocks with 2.2 per game. Knife had a career-high five blocks in each of U-Mary's games last weekend.
 
NECK AND NECK: Shaunna Knife and Ali Collins are neck-and-neck on the Ma­rauders all-time scoring list. With 875 career points, Knife is 20th all-time in U-Mary history. Just tens points behind Knife, Collins has 865 career points.
 
TOP 25: #Shaunna Knife# now 145 career assists. With seven assists last weekend, Knife is now ranked 25th all-time in U-Mary history. Knife is now the 10th player in pro­gram history to rank in the top 25 in points, rebounds and assists. Knife is 20th all-time in points, 11th in rebounding and 25th in assists. With 374 career rebounds Ali Collins can join Knife with 18 rebounds. Collins currently ranks 23rd in points, 10th in assists and 26th in rebounding.
 
Up next for U-Mary will be a pair of rematches against Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State. The Marauders lost 71-62 to the Bulldogs an 71-61 to the Huskies. U-Mary will host Duluth on Friday at 6PM and St. Cloud on Saturday at 4PM.

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