THIS WEEK The University of Mary women's basketball team looks to return to its winning ways with a return to the McDowell Activity Center when the Marauders host the University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles and the Bemidji State University Beavers on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 20-21. The weekend opens against the Golden Eagles at 6 pm on Friday. Alumni Day for Marauders basketball follows on Saturday when Mary hosts the Beavers at 4 pm.

ALUMNI DAY The annual Marauders basketball Alumni Day is set for Saturday, Jan., 21, when Mary hosts Bemidji State University. Alumni Day tips off with the women's alumni game at 9 am followed by the men's alumni game at 10 am in the McDowell Activity Center. All women's alumni basketball players will be introduced at halftime of the 4 pm Marauders-Beavers women's game. Men's basketball alumni will be recognized at intermission of the Mary-Bemidji State men's basketball game scheduled for 6 pm. Following the men's game, all basketball alumni from both the men's and women's programs are invited to a social at Bruno's Pizza.

BEK SPORTS TO BROADCAST WEEKEND DOUBLEHEADER BEK Sports is televising back-to-back days of Marauders basketball this weekend when the University of Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State University come to visit the McDowell Activity Center. The Friday, Jan. 20 Marauders-Golden Eagles game can be seen throughout western North Dakota on BEK PRIME KNDB/KNDM. The women's game starts at 6 pm with the men's contest to follow at 8 pm. On Saturday, Jan. 21, the Marauders-Beavers doubleheader can be viewed statewide on BEK PRIME (KNDB/KNDM in Western North Dakota and KRDK in Eastern North Dakota), starting with the women's game at 4 pm and the men tipping off at approximately 6 pm. The games are also available via local cable providers on BEK PRIME. Visit www.bektel.com/bbn/bpcf/ for local channel assignments and current broadcast schedule. Additionally the BEK Broadcasting Network is also available nationally on BEK Now via ROKU streaming device. Visit www.beknow.tv for more information.

LAST TIME OUT The Marauders were swept last weekend with a 78-68 loss at Concordia-St. Paul and a 77-52 defeat by Minnesota State. Gabbie Bohl had 16 points and 11 rebounds at CSP and Lauren Rotunda added 14. CSP hit 31-of-34 free throws and Mishalya Jones scored 19. Bohl had 13 and 9 at MSU and Rotunada had 11 points. Karina Schroeder had 17 and 12 for MSU.

minnesota crookston
Golden eagles
2016-17 Record: 4-12 / 4-8 NSIC
Head coach: Mike Roysand   
Record at UMC: 101-182 (11th year)
Career Record: same
Have win two straight road games after losing seven straight away from home to start the year
Dropped home games to Southwest Minnesota State (75-66) and Sioux Falls (69-63) last weekend after a midweek road win at Bemidji State (83-75) to sweep the season series
Tied with Mary for 5th in NSIC North and two games back of 4th
Allison Hughes has scored at least 22 points four times this season and averages a team-high 16.5 PPG and makes an NSIC-best 93.8 percent of her free throws

bemidji state university
beavers
2016-17 Record: 5-11 / 2-10 NSIC
Head coach: Chelsea DeVille
Record at BSU: 12-31  (2nd Year)
Career Record: same
Have played last five games at home, going 2-3
0-5 this season in road games
Feature three players with over 900 carer points: Tatum Sheley (974), Sierra Senske (933), Aimee Pelzer (931)
Aimee Pelzer leads BSU in scoring (14.3 PPG), assists (5.1/game - 2nd in the NSIC) and steals (1.3/game)
Sierra Senske (12.3 PPG) and Tatum Sheley (11.7 PPG) join Pelzer in averaging double digit scoring
BSU is 6th in the NSIC in scoring (69.7 PPG) and 11th in scoring defense (72.2 PPG)
Beavers 3rd in NSIC in 3-pointers/game (8.3)

RANKINGS In 20 games this season the University of Mary has faced five ranked opponents. The Marauders 69-56 home win over Northern State is the second time Mary has defeated a team ranked among the nation's top 25. In the third game of the season the Marauders knocked off #2 Cal Baptist 85-75. Mary has also faced #3 West Texas (L 51-42), #12 Pittsburg State (L 78-30) and #24 Minnesota State (L 73-53). (All rankings at time of game).

RANKINGS II The Marauders have played four games against teams currently ranked in the top 25 of the current WBCA poll or are receiving votes (#3 Pittsburg State, #10 Cal Baptist, #15 MSU Moorhead (twice).  

HISTORY LESSON
Marauders vs. Golden Eagles
The Marauders are 15-5 against the Golden Eagles since Mary joined the Northern Sun in the 2006-07 season
Mary is 7-3 at home and 8-2 on the road vs. UMC
The Golden Eagles have won four straight games after sweeping the season series the last two years
LAST MEETING A slow first half left the Marauders down 14 points on the way to an 83-72 road loss against the Golden Eagles on Feb. 13, 2016. Mary shot just 30 percent in the opening half. Hannah Larson scored 27 points to lead Mary. Haley Hibbs added a career-high 23 points. Katrina Nordick posted 25 points and 11 rebounds for the Golden Eagles. Micaela Hog had 17 points.

Marauders vs. Beavers
The Beavers and Marauders began their all-time series Nov. 30, 1984, an 80-75 win by BSU, before taking a 22-year break between meetings
Mary leads the series record, 16-4, and have won three straight against BSU.
The Marauders swept last year's series with a 71-66 home win and a 75-67 road victory
LAST MEETING The Marauders made 24-of-26 free throws - including 16-of-17 in the 4th quarter - to edge the Beavers 75-67 at BSU on Feb. 12, 2016. Brittney Dietz scored 26 points with a 17-for-19 effort on free throws. Hannah Larson added 16 points and Rachel Weir 10. Aimee Pelzer led BSU with 20 points, making 5-of-8 treys.

HISTORY
Hannah Larson has a chance to finish her career in the top ten in four different statistical categories at Mary. The senior forward currently is 13th in scoring and needs 60 points to tie Jessica Slinde for 10th with 1,200. Larson is 11th in assists with 290 and just needs 15 to tie Slinde for 9th in assists. The Bismarck, ND, native is fourth in career rebounds with 783. Additionally Larson has 225 career blocks, an NCAA-era career-best mark for Mary.

HANNAH HIGHLIGHTS
All-Northern Sun forward Hannah Larson finds herself on the NSIC leader board in several categories:
Larson is 15th in the NSIC in scoring at 13.5 PPG
She is 10th in rebounding at 7.4/game
Larson is 2nd in blocks with 2.5/game
Four times this season she has posted a double double
15 times in 20 games Larson has reached double figures in points

TRUE BLUE
Christal Hearn, Lauren Rotunda and Cassie Askvig, all true freshmen, are making a mark this season. Rotunda has started all 20 games, leads the team in steals (26) and free throw shooting percentage (.829), is 2nd on the team in playing time (29.4 minutes), 3-pointers (17) and rebounds (4.1/game) and third in scoring (8.7 PPG)... Cassie Askvig is 5th on the team in scoring (8.2 PPG) and 3rd in rebounding (4.1 RPG) in a reserve role and is making 82.1 percent of her free throws... Hearn joins Askvig in a reserve roll. The guard has played all 20 games and averages 13.6 minutes/game. She averages 1.7 PPG and 1.7 RPG. She tied her career-best with five points in the win over #25 Northern State.  

FRESHMAN FORCE
After missing last season due to injury, redshirt freshman Gabbie Bohl has become a force in the middle for the Marauders. The Minot, ND, native averages 12.2 points and 5.1 rebounds/game, is shooting 47.1 percent from the floor and has .6 blocks/game. All those figures rank second among Mary players. She leads the squad with 66 made free throws. Her numbers are even better in league play. In 12 NSIC games Bohl is averaging 14.3 PPG and shooting 55.5 percent.

LEADER After playing limited minutes as a freshman and sophomore, senior Rachel Weir leads the Marauders in court time. She is playing 30.1 minutes/game. Weir, who averages 6.2 PPG and 4.1 RPG, shoots a team-high 49 percent from the floor, makes 70 percent of her free throws, is second on the team in steals (27) and is third in blocks (13).

WILLIAMS WATCH Dani Williams is the Marauders top deep threat this season, leading Mary with 29 treys and a 35.8 3-point shooting percentage. Third on the team with 34 free throws, she is second with a 82.9 percent free throw shooting percentage. The junior guard is tied for second on the team in assists with 39.

REJECTION The Marauders have blocked the most shots this season in NCAA Division II with 116. In blocks per game, the Marauders are second in the Northern Sun with 5.5, the 10th best total in the country.

Block City Hannah Larson is averaging 2.4 blocks per game, second in the NSIC and 14th in the country. The senior forward is fifth in the country in total blocks (53).

Charity Stripe Mary has went to the free throw line 55 more times then its opponents. The Marauders have been to the free throw line 10-plus times in all but two games this season. Mary has had an advantage in free throws taken in 13 of 20 games. Despite the advantage in total attempts the Marauders have only made 17 more free throws than the opposition.   

RISE AND SHINE: The Marauders are outscoring its opponents 316-292 in the first quarter of games.

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