MANKATO -- The Dakota Wesleyan University women's basketball team embarks on a two-day road trip to Mankato, Minn., starting today, and it's possible head coach Aaron Kahl told his Tigers to pack their track shoes.
DWU (5-7, 2-3 GPAC) will open the road swing tonight with a non-conference game at Bethany Lutheran College at 7:00, and they'll follow that up with another non-league game against Minnesota State University-Mankato on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Both teams like to run, and have the ability to put up points in large numbers. BLC currently sits at 5-1 overall, and has scored 90 or more points in three of its six games.
Mankato will be an even bigger defensive challenge for the Tigers. The NCAA Division II Mavericks are a perfect 8-0, and are ranked 25th in the nation. Mankato set a school record for points in a game in a 122-72 win over Ohio Valley on Nov. 23 and the Mavericks have scored 91 or more points in five of their eight games.
"I think both of them are pretty good teams," Kahl said. "They are both scoring quite a bit. They both play pressure defense and try to force turnovers and get some easy baskets, so that will be quite a challenge for us."
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The Tigers play a significantly slower style by nature. DWU averages 68.4 points per game and the Tigers have allowed their opponents a near-identical 68.7 points per game. Only twice this season has DWU allowed an opponent more than 80 points in a game, and both were losses, so Kahl said his team has focused on breaking the full-court press and not playing into its opponents' eager hands.
"We spent about a half hour on press break today and we spent some time on it last night," Kahl said Tuesday. "It has been something we've worked on quite a bit."
Allison Johnson is the Tigers' leading scorer at 14.6 points per game, and her sister, Ashley, is the only other DWU player to average double figures at 10.1 points per game. Ashley also leads the Tigers with 34 steals. Adria Pazour averages a teamhigh 5.8 rebounds per game to go along with 7.1 points per game.
The road trip is part of a busy week for the Tigers before they get to take some time off. DWU will hit the road again Sunday to take on Presentation College in Aberdeen, and after that the Tigers are off until they host the DWU TeamMaker Basketball Showcase at the Corn Palace on Dec. 29 and 30. Kahl said that his team knows they could use a boost of confidence heading into the time off, especially considering they're currently riding a three-game losing streak.
"We'd love to be able to go into the break and have some confidence," he said. "After we come back from Christmas it's going to be every week from here on out. We'd love to start feeling like we're playing with a little more confidence and see if we can carry that over into the second half of the conference season."
