The Bemidji State women's and men's basketball teams open the NSIC tournament tonight.
The women are at Northern State in a 6 p.m. tip-off and the men travel to Southwest Minnesota State also in a 6 p.m. tip-off.
Though BSU's women's team is the No. 6 seed its matchup with No. 3 Northern State is more like a traditional No. 1 versus No. 8 or No. 2 versus No. 7.
The Beavers (14-13 overall, 9-9 NSIC) have not fared well versus the Wolves this season. They fell 84-68 in Aberdeen, S.D., and 86-73 in Bemidji.
Based on this season's games, BSU's women may have fared better had it had drawn No. 1 seed Concordia-St. Paul or No. 2 seed Minnesota State-Moorhead. BSU split with CSP on the season and fell by just five points to MSUM in Bemidji.
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The Wolves have been an up-and-down team this season but despite their troubles they pose a serious threat.
The team was ranked No. 22 in the nation Nov. 28 and climbed to No. 18 Dec. 5 and stood at No. 13 over the next two weeks. They moved up a spot to No. 12 Jan. 2 but slid back to No. 22 the following week where they stayed for three weeks. They then climbed to No. 18 Jan. 30 but after falling on the road to SMSU and Wayne State they dropped out of the Top 25 completely.
Noelle Hall leads the team averaging 14 points per game while Carolin Becker adds 11 ppg. Hall and Becker are also the team's rebounding leaders averaging 8 and 7 per game respectively. Miranda Boepple dishes out 3 assists per game.
During their recent tailspin, the Wolves have dropped four of their last seven.
They sit as the No. 10 seed in the latest regional rankings from which the top eight advance to the national tournament.
Despite some troubles of its own, BSU is also very capable of making a serious run in the tournament.
Three players average double figures for BSU. Juniors Stephanie Peterson and Amy Lawson average 14 and 13 points per game respectively and sophomore Heidi Matzke puts up 13 ppg.
Peterson has been solid in the paint pulling down nearly 10 rpg. Lawson is the team's assist leader averaging 6 per game.
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In other games, No. 1 CSP hosts No. 8 SMSU at 6 p.m., MSUM hosts Upper Iowa at 7 p.m. and No. 4 WSC hosts No. 5 Winona State at 7 p.m.
Men No. 7
BSU's men's team, which stands 5-22 overall and 5-13 in conference play, enters tonight's game as the No. 7 seed but unlike the women showed well this season versus their first-round opponent.
BSU was drenched by No. 2 SMSU 87-45 the first time around but lost just 63-54 in Bemidji a month ago. In that game BSU held a 1-point lead with 8:32 in the game and later trailed by 1 point four minutes later before SMSU put the game away.
SMSU also dropped a 4-point game to Wayne State who BSU defeated 66-59.
But if they are on top of their game, the Mustangs are hard to beat.
They battled the nation's No. 1-ranked Winona State before losing 76-71 in early January and then dropped another close one, 68-59, a few weeks ago.
SMSU also dropped a 5-point decision to Minnesota State-Mankato and a 4-point decision to DI North Dakota State.
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Leading the way for the Mustangs this season are Travis Krenske and Matt Fletcher who both average 13 ppg. Jeremy VonKlompenburg adds 10 ppg. VonKlompenburg and Chad Orum lead the boards with 5 rpg and Andrew Peschong and Ryan Krome leading the team in assists with 3 apg.
After a tumultuous start to the season the BSU men have been competitive and have the ability to pull out an upset in the tournament.
Alex Smith leads the Beavers in scoring with 11 ppg while Arron Evans adds 10 ppg. Smith also leads the team with 6 rpg and Evans leads the team with 2.2 apg.
Since joining the team at semester break, freshman Seth Haake averages 8.2 ppg which includes a career-high 21 points in BSU's 1-point win at Upper Iowa Friday.
In other games, No. 1 WSU hosts UIU at 7 p.m., No. 3 NSU hosts MSUM at 8 p.m. and No. 4 CSP hosts No. 5 Wayne State at 8 p.m.
