Article

Women's Hoops Hosts UNO

by Andrew Miller

Issue date: 2/22/07 Section: Womens Sports

In their up-and-down season, perhaps it's only fitting that rock bottom came five days prior to the Minnesota State women's basketball team hitting their highest plateau.

While last Thursday's road win over No. 10 Augustana was arguably the team's biggest accomplishment of the season, what's more important is it came following a 102-80 thrashing at Nebraska-Omaha on Feb. 10.

Mavericks head coach Lori Fish reels when talking about the Feb. 10 loss to UNO.

"We were bad when we played them," Fish said. "Well, obviously when they score 102 points - we weren't very good."

To beat UNO, the Mavericks will need the same kind of defensive effort put forth in the Augustana victory, where the frontcourt was able to keep Augie off the glass.

Also, UNO boasts the conference's second-most prolific scorer, Karen Thies, who torched the Mavs in their earlier meeting for 36 points, including 7-of-12 from 3-point range.

The Mavericks have been at their best this season when the defense has clicked, making stops and fueling the transition game.

"Our defense starts our offense, and we realize that," said junior forward Anna Voltmer. Aside from finding their defense and post-presence, the Mavericks also didn't allow any runs by Augustana - something that has doomed them throughout NCC play.

The Mavericks (15-11 overall, 3-8 NCC) host Nebraska-Omaha (15-9 overall, 3-7 NCC) Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Taylor Center.

Andrew Miller is the Reporter Editor in Chief