THIS WEEK After not playing at home for nearly a month, the University of Mary women's basketball team returns to the McDowell Activity Center to tangle with two nationally-ranked teams from the Northern Sun North division on Jan. 6-7. The weekend opens against 25th ranked Northern State University at 6 PM on Friday, Jan. 6. The two-game set concludes with a visit from 24th ranked MSU Moorhead at 4 PM on Saturday, Jan. 7.

TV TIME - DRAGONS VS. MARAUDERS
The Mary - MSU Moorhead men's and women's basketball doubleheader at the McDowell Activity Center on Saturday, Jan. 7, will be broadcast on West Dakota Fox throughout central and western North Dakota in Bismarck, Minot, Williston and Dickinson. Familiar faces will call the Marauders – Dragons game. Nine-time North Dakota Sportscaster of the Year and KFYR-TV sports director Lee Timmerman is the television play-by-play announcer for the Marauders. Kaleigh Emery, KFYR-TV weekend sports anchor and host of Marauders Weekly, will report from the floor and KFYR-TV sports reporter Clayton Collier provides the color commentary.

LAST TIME OUT The Marauders dominated the first quarter but a reversal of fortune in the second stanza led to an 83-75 road loss at Minnesota Duluth. Mary held a 23-13 lead before UMD outscored the Marauders 24-7 in the second. Dani Williams scored 16 points to lead Mary. Hannah Larson added 16 points, five rebounds and five assists. Cassie Askvig added 14 points off the bench... Mary closed out a three-game road wing with a narrow 82-81 win at St. Cloud State. Gabbie Bohl and Hannah Larson combined to score 39 points with 17 rebounds for the Marauders. Mary offset a 15-6 disadvantage on 3-pointers made by outscoring SCSU 48-10 in the paint. Bohl had 20 points and nine rebounds. Larson added 19 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Dani Williams hit four treys, scored 15 points and blocked three shots. Lauren Rotunda had a double double with 12 points and ten rebounds and added five assists. Mary outshot SCSU 47 percent to 40 percent.

FUN WITH NUMBERS - 37
Marauders freshmen Gabbie Bohl, Lauren Rotunda and Cassie Askvig combined to score 37 points in the 82-81 road win over SCSU. Bohl hit for 20, Rotunda 12 (plus 10 rebounds) and Askvig five. The season-best combined total is 45 points at Minot State (Rotunda 16, Askvig 15 and Bohl 14). The trio also had 40 against Lake Superior State (Askvig 16, Bohl and Rotunda 12 each).  

HISTORY LESSON
Marauders vs. Wolves
The Marauders are 8-13 all-time against the Wolves
Northern State has won the last six meetings
Mary's last win was an 87-83 home win over Northern State on Dec. 7, 2013. McKenzie Foster hit five treys and scored 20 points and Linda Murray added 16 points and 15 rebounds.
LAST MEETING: NSU defeated Mary 59-38 on Dec. 3, 2016. Hannah Larson led UM with 12 points and nine rebounds. Lauren Rotunda added nine points. The Marauders shot 26 percent to 39 percent for the Wolves. Jill Conrad scored a game-high 14 points for NSU.

Marauders vs. Dragons
The Marauders are 8-11 all-time against the Dragons
MSUM swept last season's series and owns three straight wins over Mary
The Marauders last win was a 69-64 home victory on Jan. 9, 2015. Brittney Dietz scored 17 points, had 11 rebounds and five assists. Turner Sloan added 16 points and nine rebounds.
LAST MEETING: MSUM picked up an 82-59 home win over Mary on Dec. 2, 2016. The Marauders trailed by 10 points after the first quarter and 25 at halftime. Hannah Larson led the visitors with 15 points and Gabbie Bohl added 13. Drew Sannes led MSUM with 32 points and 15 rebounds. Mary defeated UMD 81-75. Hannah Larson had 23 points and six blocks and Brittney Dielz and Dani Williams both scored 21 points.

RADIO CHANGE FOR JAN. 7, 14 Marauders fans need to make a slight adjustment to their radios to hear the Mary men's and women's basketball games on Jan. 7 and 14. Instead of the Marauders home on Fox Sports 710, fans must tune to KFYR 550 AM to hear Rick Anthony call the contests.

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 15th in scoring and needs 117 points to tie Jessica Slinde for 10th with 1,200. Larson is 12th in assists with 281 and just needs 19 to tie Slinde for 10th in assists. The Bismarck, ND, native is fourth in career rebounds with 759. Additionally Larson has 213 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 13th in the NSIC in scoring at 13.3 PPG
She is 8th in rebounding at 7.8/game
Larson is 2nd in blocks with 2.6/game
Three times this season she has posted a double double
12 times in 16 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 16 games and is second on the team in playing time (29.6 minutes) and assists (35), 3rd on the team in 3-pointers (11) and rebounds (4.5/game), and is the team leader in free throw shooting (93.8 percent) and steals (19)... Cassie Askvig is 4th on the team in scoring (8.9 PPG) and rebounding (4.2 RPG) in a reserve role and is making 81.5 percent of her free throws... Hearn joins Askvig in a reserve roll. The guard has played all 16 games and averages 13.4 minutes/game. She averages 1.6 PPG and 1.8 RPG.

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 points and 5.2 rebounds/game, is shooting 47.7 percent from the floor and has .8 blocks/game. All those figures rank second among Mary players. She leads the squad with 48 made free throws. Her numbers are even better in league play. In eight NSIC games Bohl is averaging 15 PPG and shooting 60 percent.

LEADER After playing limited minutes as a freshman and sophomore, senior Rachel Weir leads the Marauders in court time. She is playing 29.9 minutes/game. Weir, who averages 6.3 PPG and 4.0 RPG, shoots a team-high 52.1 percent from the floor, makes 77 percent of her free throws, is second on the team in steals (17) and is third in blocks (12).

4x4 Highlighted by four treys in both games last weekend, Dani Williams had a big weekend for the Marauders. She was 8-of-15 behind the arc and made 10-of-19 shots overall and all three free throws while scoring 16 points against Minnesota Duluth and 15 at St. Cloud State.

REJECTION The Marauders have blocked the most shots this season in NCAA Division II with 98. In blocks per game, the Marauders lead the Northern Sun with 5.8, the ninth best total in the country. Columbus State leads the way with 7.0 rejections per game.

Block City Hannah Larson is averaging 2.6 blocks per game, second in the NSIC and 14th in the country. The senior forward is fourth in the country in total blocks (44).

Charity Stripe Mary is getting to the free throw line 51 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 11 of 16 games. Despite the advantage in total attempts the Marauders have only made 18 more free throws than the opposition.   

RISE AND SHINE: The Marauders are outscoring its opponents 265-220 in the first quarter of games.

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