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Minnesotans leading NDSU to its best women's basketball season ever

Originally posted on Bring Me The News | By Joe Nelson | Last updated Feb 17, 2026 2:13 PM ET

Riding a 21-game win streak, the North Dakota State University women's basketball team is 23-2 overall and projected as a No. 10 seed in the latest NCAA Tournament projection from ESPN's Charlie Creme.

The Bison's roster features seven players from Minnesota, three from North Dakota, and one from each of Iowa, Oregon, and Australia. The Minnesotans:

Avery Koenen, Montevideo (Montevideo Senior High)
Marisa Frost, Lino Lakes (Centennial High School)
Sophi Hawkinson, Plymouth (Wayzata High School)
Abby Krzewinski, Wayzata (Wayzata High School)
Molly Lenz, Victoria (Eden Prairie High School)
Audrey Martinez-Stewart, St. Paul (Cretin-Derham Hall)
Lily Niebuhr, Jordan (Chaska High School)

Of the six players averaging at least 19 minutes per game, four of them are Minnesotans. Koenen and Frost rank first and second on the team in scoring, at 18.9 and 13.4 points per game, respectively.

Season averages for the Minnesotans:

Koenen: 18.9 points, 11.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.5 steals, 1.5 blocks
Frost: 13.4 points, 1.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.6 steals
Krzewinski: 8.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists
Lenz: 8.0 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists
Niebuhr: 1.4 points, 1.3 rebounds
Martinez-Stewart: 0.7 points

Koenen is 33rd in the nation in scoring and 11th nationally in rebounding (11.2 per game).

Her father, Scott Koenen, was a Division II star at Southwest Minnesota State University, where he led the Mustangs in scoring and rebounding in three consecutive seasons and was an NCAA All-American in 2001. He was inducted into the SMSU Hall of Fame in 2019, alongside his younger brother, Chad Koenen, in 2019. Another Koenen brother, Mike, also played at SMSU.

The 2025-26 season could lead NDSU to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since making the jump from Division II to Division I in 2004.

The Bison won 21 games last season but were upset in the opening round of the Summit League Tournament. They won 22 games in 2023-24 before falling to South Dakota State in the Summit League Tournament championship.

This season, they have separated themselves from Summit League competition so much that Creme has the Bison projected as a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament. That would equal the highest seed for a Summit League women's team in tourney history (SDSU was the No. 10 seed in 2025).

Only UConn, at 27-0, is riding a longer winning streak than NDSU. Only seven of their 21 consecutive wins have been by fewer than 20 points.

NDSU's only losses are against Gonzaga, which leads the West Coast Conference, and Nebraska, which is projected as an on-the-bubble 11 seed in ESPN's bracketology.

The Bison defeated perennial Summit League power South Dakota State 76-68 on Jan. 17, and the two will meet again in Fargo on Feb. 25. SDSU and South Dakota, who the Bison crushed by 23 points on Jan. 24, appear to be the only threats to upset NDSU in the conference tournament next month.

With the Minnesota Gophers headed for a potential top-five seed in the NCAA Tournament, there could be a lot of local connections to Minnesota women's basketball players in March Madness this year.

This article first appeared on Bring Me The News and was syndicated with permission.

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