Mustang
BASKETBALL FRIDAY/SATURDAY, FEB. 11 AND 12
A rare set of back-to-back weekend doubleheaders makes its way to Allee Gymnasium in the Rosen-Verdoorn Sports Center Friday and Saturday. Morningside University hosts the University of Jamestown Friday to help highlight recognition of the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll and second semester 2021 and first semester 2022 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics All-American and Great Plains Athletic Conference Coach of the Year awardees. Saturday, the Mustangs welcome Hastings College for another Great Plains Athletic Conference twin bill.
THE SERIES Hastings has a 7-4 edge in recent history against head coach Jamie Sale’s program. However, the Mustangs have chartered a new course recently, having claimed three in a row from the Broncos. Against the Jimmies, Mside has a sixgame win streak in tow as part of an 11-4 all-time advantage. On the men’s side of the ledger, head coach Trent Miller’s program has won 11 of the last 13 and leads 29-9 all-time against Hastings. Jamestown’s captured the previous three meetings with the Mustangs holding a slim 8-5 edge series historywise.
THE MATCH-UP With two weeks remaining in the regular season, Sale’s squad, sporting a 21-4 overall and 16-2 league record, is ranked among the national top 10 in five different statistical categories. Leading that group is made three-pointers per game, with the Mustangs 10.6 being third-most. Assists per contest (19.6 – No. 5), three-point accuracy (37 pct. – No. 6), three-point attempts per outing (28.6 – No. 7), and free throw percentage (77.2 – No. 8) also stand in the same territory. Individually, senior guard Sierra Mitchell’s 91.5 percent free-throw conversion rate is fifth-best. Mside’s men, sporting a 12-9 overall and 9-7 league mark, are among the country’s first 50 in three team shooting percentages. Their 48.5 percent conversion rate from the field is 30th-best; the 37.9 percent mark at which they hit three-point baskets is 11th-highest, and their 72.9 percent free-throw accuracy is No. 47. Sophomore guard Aidan Vanderloo’s red-hot 45.3 percent effort from outside the arc is 46th-best nationally. The two teams are coming into the weekend on different trajectories. The women have won 10 of their last 11 going into the weekend, while the men have been 4-5 since the beginning of January. In their most recent outing, Morningside split a league doubleheader versus crosstown league rival Briar Cliff University. Sophomore center Chloe Lofstrom compiled her second double-double of the week, leading No. 8-ranked Mustangs on Feb. 5. Winding up a memorable four-day
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