The University of Mary women's basketball team knows this much: it will host a home playoff game on March 1 at 7 p.m.

The Marauders (11-6 NSIC, 16-9 overall) secured that this past weekend with a sweep over Bemidji State and Minnesota-Crookston.

What remains to be seen is if U-Mary will be seeded No. 2 or 3. A win this weekend, and some help from Wayne State, would help the Marauders capture the No. 2 seed. Wayne State plays at MSU-Moorhead and Concordia-St. Paul.

The Marauders host rival Northern State on Saturday night to close the regular season.

Another thing that remains to be seen is how many fans will be in the stands at the playoff game. The student body at U-Mary will be on spring break, and the city of Bismarck is hosting the girls and boys Class A West Region tournament.

"It doesn't matter,"U-Mary coach Fred Fridley said. "It's not about the fans. It's about us getting to play in a building we practice at every day and shoot in every day."

Don't get Fridley wrong. He'd love to share the home playoff experience with the fans.

And Fridley believes the McDowell Activity Center won't be empty.

"We were home after Christmas break, when the students were gone, and we played MSU-Moorhead," Fridley said. "The place was full for that. We want the fan support, but the thing is we are playing in our building and we play well here."

But Fridley's first focus is Northern State.

"It's a huge game for Northern State," Fridley said. "They can go from eighth to sixth with a win, and a little bit of help along the way."

Men's hoops team

to face stiff competition

The U-Mary men's team has a couple of tall orders on the agenda. The Marauders (5-12 NSIC, 8-18 overall) close the season against No. 4 Northern State.

The Marauders are coming off a weekend sweep over Bemidji State and Minnesota-Crookston, and punched their ticket into the playoffs.

"There's not a great time to play Northern," U-Mary coach Juno Pintar said. "I'd rather do it coming off two wins than two losses. We don't have to worry about making the playoffs, but that doesn't make the task easier."

The Marauders will likely be the No. 8 seed in the NSIC. If U-Mary beats NSU, and Upper Iowa loses to Bemidji State and Minnesota-Crookston, U-Mary would move to No. 7.

"The chances are slim," Pintar said. "Upper Iowa is playing well."

The Marauders would likely travel to No. 3-ranked Winona State for a first-round playoff game. If they would move to No. 7, they would travel to Northern State.

"Now that we have a spot clinched, I don't have to watch the scoreboard anymore,"Pintar said. "We can focus on Northern, and after that we have a week. Then we can focus on where we're going. Either first-round game will be a tough task."

Pintar said getting into the NSIC tournament will be a positive experience for the young players.

"The thing that's important for us is getting our core group of guys good experience playing in games like this,"Pintar said. "We're not happy where we are at in the standings, but I'm proud of how our guys have played this year. I don't look at us as being that far away from being an upper echelon team in our conference."

Track and field brush up

The U-Mary men's and women's indoor teams will get a tune-up before the NSIC championships.

The Marauders travel to Bemidji State on Thursday for an invitational.

The NSIC Championships will be Feb. 29-March 1, also at Bemidji. That's why Thursday's meet will be an important one for U-Mary.

"It will be nice to be on the conference track,"U-Mary coach Mike Thorson said. "We will be running pretty much all the people in their conference events."

The Bemidji State Invitational will also be another chance to improve or achieve provisional qualifying marks for some athletes.

"It's our last opportunity to get some things done before the conference meet."

U-Mary nine

goes to Colorado

On paper it appeared to be a bad road trip for the U-Mary baseball team.

The Marauders (0-2) dropped two, and had two cancellations because of weather on their trip to Pueblo, Colo.

"The sad part is weather affects you if you're playing and not playing," U-Mary coach Brad Walsh said. "There are just things you can't control. There are days when I wish I was a basketball coach."

U-Mary got blown out in its first game, and then rebounded in the second game to lose by just one run.

"The first game we made the typical mistakes of not having been outside," Walsh said."We misjudged some pop flies, and it was the first time we faced other people's hitters."

The Marauders play four games in Kansas on Saturday and Sunday.