The NSIC regular-season champion St. Cloud State women's basketball team is preparing for the playoffs.

SCSU head coach Lori Fish and players Kelsey Peschel and Eric Navratil say this team has put in a lot of work and has done a tremendous job meeting their expectations.  Peschel says team chemistry in her 4 years at SCSU has never been a problem. She says they play ball together and choose to live with one another.

Navratil participated on the SCSU Volleyball team before joining the basketball team.  She says the basketball team has been so welcoming.  Erin says there are truly no issues with this team which is kind of unheard of on a team.

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The Huskies are 21-3 this season and haven't lost a game since January 14th when they lost to Upper Iowa. SCSU has won 10 straight games since then.  Fish says their plan offensively is to play inside out. She says they like to establish success scoring inside on the post or with drives to the basket.

Fish says she trusts this team in difficult game situations and always believes they can win.  Navratil says they have won a lot of close games and rarely blow anyone out. Fish says everyone on this team is capable of making a play when they need it but 5th-year guard Tori Wortz is the most likely to want to take the clutch shots.

The Huskies consist of plenty of local talent from the Peschel sisters Kelsey and Tori from Sauk Centre, Tori and Elizabeth Wortz from Hutchinson, and Erin Navratil from Albany.  SCSU has a first-round bye in the upcoming NSIC tournament and will play the Augustana/Northern State winner Saturday, February 26th at 4:30 p.m in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The Huskies are ranked 2nd in the latest NCAA Regional rankings behind Fort Hays State and one spot ahead of Minnesota-Duluth. The regular season NSIC championship is the first at SCSU for women's basketball since the 1983-84 season. SCSU likely doesn't need to win the NSIC tournament to earn an NCAA berth but Fish says they don't want to leave that decision up to the committee.

If you'd like to listen to my 2-part conversation with Lori, Kelsey and Erin it is available below.

 

 

 

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