GAME NOTES
SETTING THE STAGE: The Northern State women's basketball team (9-5, 6-4 NSIC) will host their first home games of 2011 when they take on Minnesota State, Mankato (8-5, 5-4 NSIC) on Friday and Southwest Minnesota State (3-10, 2-7 NSIC) on Saturday. Tip-off for both games is 6 p.m.
THE SERIES: The series between Minnesota State and Northern State extends back to the 1979-80 season when the Wolves won in a 80-79 decision. Including that first win against the Mavericks, NSU has since notched a 4-8 record. The Wolves are looking to break a five-game losing streak to MSU including two losses last season.
Northern State holds an impressive 40-15 record against Southwest Minnesota State stemming from a series that began in the 1969-70 season. 24 of those 40 wins came in the first 24 meetings between the Wolves and the Mustangs as SMSU did not win a game against NSU until the 1994-95 season. The two teams each took a win last year with Northern winning the last match-up in a 67-50 decision.
SIZING UP THE COMPETITION: MSU and SMSU each played one game last weekend-against each other with the Mavericks taking a 69-46 victory over the Mustangs.
Jennie Noreen scored a career-high 31 points for MSU followed by Ali Wilkinson with a double-double of 13 points and 11 boards.
Tori Fink earned her first career double-double for SMSU with 23 points and rebounds for SMSU. Laura Kramer added six points and seven boards for the Mustangs.
MSU is tied with MSU Moorhead for third place in conference standings while SMSU sits at 11th with Bemidji State and Minnesota, Crookston.
LAST TIME OUT: Northern State notched its second weekend sweep of the season and first of the new year last weekend when they defeated Minnesota, Crookston 82-74 on Saturday and MSU Moorhead 60-46.
Jodi Reinschmidt (F, 5-11, Sr., St. Michael, Minn.) scored a career high 38 points, connecting on and grabbed ten rebounds to lead Northern State over the Golden Eagles. Krista Rabenberg (C, 6-6, Sr., Mobridge, S.D.) added 17 points and six boards. NSU shot 53 percent from the field (35-66).
Rabenberg continued her work into Sunday night when she scored a game-high 14 points and six rebounds in the Wolves' win over MSU Moorhead. The Wolves never trailed in the match-up and shot 47 percent (21-44) from the field while the MSUM shot just under 27 percent (16-60) on the day. NSU led by as many as nine in the first half before going into halftime with a seven point, 22-15 lead. Reinschmidt and Emily Becken (PG, 5-7, Jr., Lino Lakes, Minn.) added ten points a piece.
HIGHS FOR REINSCHMIDT: While she may not have set the record for most points scored in an indvidual game (held by Maurie Simon with 44 points in 1975), Reinschmidt's career-high 38 points in Saturday's win over Minnesota, Crookston is the most points scored by an NSU player since Jammie Coyle's 37-point performance on Nov. 7, 1999 against Francis Marion University. Reinschmidt's contribution sets her at top of the NSIC single-game season high point total as well as the single-game season high for field goals made with 17.
FOLLOW THE WOLVES: Follow the the Wolves year-round on their website, www.nsuwolvesathletics.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/northernstatewolves.
WHO 2 WATCH 4:
•Northern State: Jodi Reinschmidt, averaging 14.9 points per game, 5.4 rebounds per game
•MSU: Ali Wilkinson, averaging 11 points per game, 8.8 rebounds per game
•SMSU: Tori Fink, averaging 12.5 points per game, 20 steals on the season.
GOOD DEFENSE: Northern currently ranks second in conference standings behind Wayne State in points allowed giving up an average of just 61. 5 points a game. The Wolves also sit
