UMAC Games of the Week

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UMAC Game of the Week Archives

ST. PAUL -- The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Game of the Week is a feature that takes place each week throughout the conference portion of the season with one contest being selected and highlighted as the UMAC Game of the Week.

This weekend marks the final UMAC regular season men's and women's basketball contests. With postseason berths and seeds still up for grabs, this week the conference has selected two UMAC matchups to feature as the Games of the Week. The first of the featured contests will take place at 3 p.m. on Saturday as the University of Northwestern will host the College of St. Scholastica in women's basketball action while the second contest will get underway at 5 p.m. as Crown College travels to Bethany Lutheran College for a men's basketball matchup.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Heading into the weekend Minnesota Morris, St. Scholastica, Martin Luther and Northwestern have all secured UMAC Tournament berths with Northwestern, St. Scholastica and Martin Luther in a three-way tie (9-3) for second place in the UMAC. The three teams will each head into the weekend with hopes of securing home court advantage in next week's four-team UMAC Women's Basketball Tournament. Saturday's 3 p.m. regular season finale between the Eagles and the Saints in St. Paul is sure to be an exciting game with postseason implications.

About the Eagles
Northwestern enters this weekend’s final regular season contests with 17 overall victories, the most for an Eagles squad since 2002-2003. At 9-3 in league play, UNW is one of three teams, with St. Scholastica being another one of those three, who are tied for second place in the current UMAC standings. Northwestern is the lone school to beat the University of Minnesota Morris, who has already won at least a share of the league’s regular season trophy, this year.

Senior Mollie Sir is one of three Northwestern players to enter this weekend’s contests averaging double digit points. Sir, whose points per game average is 15.1, is currently fifth in the nation in three-point field goals per game (3.13) and has a UMAC-best 72 makes from behind the arc in 2013-2014. As a team, the Eagles are fourth among NCAA Division III schools in three-point field goals per game with an average of 9.7 makes. Chanel Madson (14.6 ppg) and Jessica Fife (12.3) have also made significant contributions to UNW’s offense this season. Fife’s 9.6 rebounds per game nearly have the senior averaging a double-double every game.

About the Saints
The St. Scholastica Women's Basketball team is coming off a 70-60 loss at home against the University of Minnesota Morris on Saturday in last week's UMAC Game of the Week. The Saints are 1-2 in their last two games after winning seven straight games. During that winning streak, CSS defeated Northwestern at the Reif in overtime 87-86.

Senior Erin Frase has taken over the scoring lead for the Saints, averaging 11.0 points per game. In her last eight games she is averaging 15.3 points per game. Frase had a career-high 26 points in win at Bethany Lutheran two weeks ago and poured in 22 points on Senior Day on Saturday. Mariah Hovick and Kelsey Sorenson-Giffrow are each averaging 10.5 points per game.

Game Notes
- The first battle between Northwestern and St. Scholastica this season ended with the Saints winning 87-86 in overtime in Duluth, Minn. Sammy Doucette’s free throw with three seconds left in the overtime period was the difference-maker. Kelsey Sorenson had 23 points to lead the Saints, while Sir scored a team-best 22 for Northwestern.

-The last two meetings between the Saints and Eagles have gone to overtime and both have taken place in Duluth. Northwestern won in 2013, while the Saints won earlier this season.

-The Saints have won only twice at Northwestern since the 2002-03 season. The last win took place in 2012 by a score of 64-60.

- St. Scholastica owns a 41-34 lead over Northwestern in the two teams’ all-time head-to-head history. The same team has won both head-to-head battles in each of the last three years (i.e. Northwestern won both in 2012-2013, St. Scholastica in 2011-2012, Northwestern in 2010-2011).

-With a pair of victories this weekend, the Saints can reach 11 wins in UMAC play for the first time in program history. The current high is 10 during the 2011-12 season.

- Mollie Sir has started 74 straight games for the Eagles entering this weekend’s play. Jessica Fife is one game behind, having started the Eagles’ last 73 contests.

Northwestern Recap | St. Scholastica Recap Final Score: CSS 68, UNW 63

MEN'S BASKETBALL
Saturday's men's basketball contest between Crown and Bethany Lutheran College also looks to be a season finale with UMAC postseason implications as both team look to secure a spot in the the league's four-team tournament next week. Heading into the weekend the Storm own a 7-5 UMAC record and sit in third place in the conference while the Vikings are currently tied for fourth place with a league record of 6-6.

About the Vikings
Bethany Lutheran and Crown have split their regular season meetings in each of the last three seasons. The Vikings won the first meeting this season in comeback fashion 95-94. In order for Bethany to qualify for the UMAC Postseason Tournament for the ninth straight season, they'll need to buck this recent trend and try to complete the season sweep of the Storm.

In that prior game, Jacob Wensmann recorded a double-double scoring 16 points and pulling down ten rebounds. Bethany will have to play this weekend though without their top scorer and rebounder as Wensmann was lost for the season following a knee injury in last Saturday's game at North Central.

Trying to pick up the slack for the loss of Wensmann will be Chris Scarver. Scarver, who himself missed the first nine games of the season due to injury, has scored in double figures in each of the last three games and is second on the team in scoring average (11.1 ppg). Bethany will look to Trent Kuechenmeister as well. Prior to the last game, he reached double figures in scoring in six straight games.

About the Storm
The second meeting of the Crown and Bethany Lutheran men’s basketball teams will have major playoff implications on the last day of the UMAC regular season. Bethany defeated Crown in a thriller back in January, 95-94, with a stunning comeback in the final minute of the game. Heading into this weekend, both teams are looking to lock up a playoff spot while also jockeying for playoff seeding as Crown sits at 7-5 and is currently in line for the three seed, while the Vikings are tied for the final playoff spot with St. Scholastica at 6-6.

Both teams are 5-5 in their last 10 games and are possibly the two most similar teams in the conference, playing a fast, aggressive style. With both teams scoring in the 90’s last meeting, defense seemed to be optional. The two teams haven’t been able to maintain that scoring pace since their first meeting, with Crown really struggling on the offensive end over their last few games.

In their last meeting, Crown was led by Bryce Williams, the UMAC’s leading scorer who poured in 33 points, including 7-14 shooting from beyond the arc. Chris Scarver led the Vikings with 20 points, including five three pointers in the first half. For the game, nine different players hit double figure scoring totals. Crown made a school record 17 three point attempts in the loss, and the two teams combined for 40 assists and only 13 turnovers in a game dominated by offense.

Will Crown and Bethany Lutheran split their season series for a fourth consecutive year? Will both teams make it into the postseason? Who will travel where when the UMAC tournament starts next week? All these questions will be settled in Mankato on Saturday.

Game Notes
- Crown and Bethany Lutheran have split the season series in each of the last four years.

- Bethany leads the series between the two teams 15-4 since 2004-05.

- The matchup will feature the top two scoring offenses in the UMAC, with Crown averaging 78.4 points in conference games and BLC coming in at 74.6 points per contest.

- Crown and Bethany are also the top two teams in rebounds and free throw percentage in conference games.

- Bethany shot season best 54.8 percent from the floor and 55.6 percent from 3-point range in the first meeting with Crown this season.

- Bethany's Trent Kuechenmeister has missed only one free throw this season in 27 attempts (96.3 percent).

-The game will feature the top two rebounders in the UMAC in Billy Berglund and Jacob Wensmann.

Bethany Lutheran Recap | Crown Recap Final Score: BLC 67, Crown 66

For information on other contests around the league this week, visit the UMAC's live scoreboard.