Bismarck State women's basketball coach Len Stanley will probably kick himself for admitting it.

He's eager for his team to play out of town this weekend. Once the Mystics get into the meat of their schedule, home games might be more welcome to Stanley.

BSC travels to St. Joseph, Minn., today to take on St. Benedict. The Mystics then play in the Anoka-Ramsey tournament in Coon Rapids, Minn., Friday and Saturday.

BSC (8-2) hasn't traveled out of town since the first weekend in November.

"It's been a crazy year," Stanley said. "We haven't had to travel. We need to learn how to deal with adversity. There's no better teaching tool than to get out on the road, playing on an unfamiliar court and dealing with the referees."

Stanley is also looking forward to playing high caliber teams. Anoka-Ramsey won the national NJCAA Division III tournament last season.

The Golden Rams are ranked No. 4 in the national poll this season. BSC is ranked 17th in the NJCAA Division II poll.

"Other than the Mon-Dak conference tournament, we haven't been challenged," Stanley said.

Guard Britlyn Sturlaugson and post Ashley Haines have emerged as key players for the Mystics.

Sturlaugson is averaging 9.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.0 steals a game.

"I don't think of her as being a scorer," Stanley said. "She's blue collar. She does a lot of other things. Scoring is just frosting."

Haines and Hatti Ternes lead the Mystics with 12.1 points a game apiece. Haines leads in rebounding with 6.7 per game.

"She has the knack for rebounding," Stanley said. "It's something you don't teach. She has the ability to read the angle of the rebound. She has good timing, and she's a strong kid. She gets a lot of scoring opportunities off the offensive board."

BSC men keep on blistering the nets

BSC men's basketball coach Buster Gilliss watched the majority of his scorers leave last season because of graduation.

No problem.

Gilliss has a new crew that's doing just fine, thank you.

The 8-1 Mystics are second in the nation in scoring with 104 points per game. They are ranked No. 6 in the NJCAA Division II poll.

Shaun Knife leads the Mystics with 17.8 points a game. Brandon Hendrix is adding 15.6, Eric Schmautz 15.3, T.J. McCauley 13.1 and Billy Michelsen 12.6.

"They started out not wanting to play as fast as I wanted them to play," Gilliss said of the whole team. "We had to break down our fastbreak into simpler terms."

Hendrix ranks 20th in the nation with a field-goal percentage of 60.8. As a team, the Mystics are shooting 52.7 percent from the floor.

"We try to have players understand their roles and what shots they should be taking," Gilliss said.

The Mystics play St. Cloud (Minn.) Tech today. They play in the Minneapolis Community College tournament Friday and Saturday.

Short Shots

3 Jamestown's Gary Thomas was the lone player from the Dakota Athletic Conference on the America Football Coaches Association NAIA All-American team. The defensive back led the Jimmies with 80 tackles, including 4.5 tackles-for-a-loss.

3 Bismarck native Ann Baltzer has been named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference player of the week in women's basketball. Playing for Macalester College of St. Paul, Minn., the sophomore averaged 17.5 points and 9.5 rebounds last week.

Baltzer produced a career-high 27 points along with 13 rebounds in a win over St. Thomas.

Macalester is an NCAA Division III school.

3 Mandan native Alison Wanner was named MSU-Moorhead's most valuable player in women's soccer. The goalkeeper was also honored as most improved.

She appeared in 14 matches with 11 starts and set a pair of new single-season records for most saves (144) and highest save percentage (.870).

3 South Dakota Tech women's basketball coach Barb Felderman picked up her 400th career victory, a 77-60 home win over Rocky Mountain. In her 27th season at Tech, Felderman's career record is 400-317.

3 NDSCS-Wahpeton men's basketball coach Craig Irwin tied Earl "Skip" Bute with most career wins. Irwin, a Sawyer native, has a record of 197-44.