Oct. 10—Bemidji State women’s basketball senior Erin Barrette earned the Beavers’ NSIC Preseason Player to Watch as BSU remained in the same position in the Preseason Coaches Poll as the end of the 2023-24 season, slotted in at 15th.
Last season, Barrette finished fourth in points on the team 119 points. In her 26 starts, she tallied 628 minutes, 57 assists and 51 total rebounds. In her BSU career, Barrette has marked 59 games played with 42 starts and 1,287 minutes on the court. She has tallied 218 points with 88 rebounds, 82 assists and 47 steals — 26 of those steals coming from her junior season.
“Erin has taken over a leadership role on our team in every sense of the responsibility,” said head coach Chelsea Stoltenberg. “She has high expectations of herself and the team this season.”
The Beavers struggled to find the win column last year, ending in the bottom spot of the NSIC with a 3-19 record in the conference and 6-20 overall. The team started out with a 2-1 record against non-conference opponents, earning wins against St. Scholastica and Minnesota Morris, but fell when the NSIC schedule ramped up.
This past February, Bemidji State found a spark against its conference opponents, grabbing all three of their NSIC wins over the course of a week against Minot State (77-63), Minnesota State Moorhead (65-54) and Minnesota Crookston (87-70).
“There is a new energy in this group,” said Stoltenberg. “We have a lot to prove and are determined to do just that.”
Along with Barrette, the Beavers return Alayna Suprenand, who tied for three-point shots scored last season with 27 and is one spot behind Barrette for points scored with 115. She also marked the fourth-most rebounds grabbed with 68, 62 coming on defense.
Tieryn Plasch and Ashlynne Guenther bring back their experience playing in 26 and 25 games for the Beavers last season, respectively. Sage Ganyo leads BSU returners with a .465 field goal percentage, marking 20-of-43 field goals last season. From the free-throw line, the Beavers will look to sophomore Rachel Koenig, who marked a 79.4 free-throw percentage in her freshman season, landing 27-of-34 attempts.
Minnesota State, the defending NCAA Division II National Champions, were selected by the league coaches as the preseason favorite in the NSIC for the 2024-25 season. The Mavericks received 194 points, garnering 12 first-place votes to sit 10 points ahead of second place Northern State. The Wolves, who tied for second in the NSIC standings a year ago, had 184 points and the other three first-place votes. Concordia-St. Paul was third with 162 points, while Southwest Minnesota State was fourth with 147.
2024-25 NSIC Women’s Basketball Preseason Coaches’ Poll
1. Minnesota State (12)
2. Northern State (3)
3. Concordia-St. Paul
4. Southwest Minnesota State
5. St. Cloud State
6. MSU Moorhead
7. Sioux Falls
8. Minnesota Duluth
9. University of Mary
10. Winona State
11. Augustana
12. Minnesota Crookston
13. Wayne State
14. Minot State
15. Bemidji State
The NSIC regular season championship will be based on the 22-game schedule. Each team will play eight teams twice and another six teams once. The conference championship will be awarded to the team with the highest win percentage in the 22 games played.
The 2024-25 women’s basketball season gets underway in early November with non-conference action, while NSIC play begins Tuesday, Nov. 26.
The 12-team NSIC Women’s Basketball Tournament is set to take place March 1-4 at the Sanford Health Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. The top four seeds will receive a first-round bye. First round games will be played on campus on Wednesday, Feb. 26.
