When current Minot State women’s basketball head coach Mike Brandt first threw his name in the ring for the Beavers’ vacancy last offseason, he saw the potential.

He recalls noticing a few areas in which the team could work to improve coming off a 4-10 COVID-19-shortened 2020-21 season, most notably on the defensive end of the court, and was excited to help the lady Beavers learn to gain a bit more confidence up and down the floor.

“I think after getting here and seeing some of it on film, that they just need to have a boost of confidence,” he said. “I believe that they’re much better than what they believe, but that’s something that’s just going to take a little time to instill in their minds.”

Slowly but surely, the first-year Minot State head coach is looking to help the team right years’ worth of wrongs and return to the form of the early 2010s’ clubs, such as 2013-14’s 19-9 group or the 2010-11 Beavers who won 22 of their 30 games.

It has not been an easy task for the team or Brandt, who joined Minot State after a year away from coaching and has battled a schedule marred with COVID-19-related cancelations. The Beavers’ holiday break was extended to almost a month-long pause with three consecutive cancelations to begin the second half. With wins in three of their last four games, though, Minot State is on the right track.

Led by Amber Stevahn, awarded NSIC Women’s Basketball Player of the Week honors for the conference’s North Division Monday afternoon, the Beavers bounced back from a second half-opening defeat to Augustana University with three consecutive wins over Wayne State College, Minnesota State, Mankato and Concordia University, St. Paul spanning Jan. 15-22.

All in a night’s work, the junior forward recorded the 2,000th point of her career and hit a game-winning two-point jumpshot to lift the Beavers over Wayne State, and later scored 48 points across Minot State’s latest two games to help bring Minot State to within two games of .500 at 8-10 overall and 6-5 within the conference.

“That’s what’s so special about Amber is that she’s not a selfish shooter. I get after her for not shooting enough,” Brandt said. “It’s been fantastic for her to have that game-winner and the 2,000-point celebration, and besides that I think that she’s a great person, a hard-worker, 4.0 student, so you just can’t find much better than that.”

Kate Head joins Stevahn in averaging at least 10.9 points per game and co-leads the team with Lucy Chapman with 21 made three-point shots each. The threat from beyond the arc is a calling card for Minot State’s offense to this point, as the Beavers rank fourth in the conference of 16 total programs with a three-point field goal percentage of just over 32 percent, or a tick over six per game.

“We’ve been talking lately about being a sniper and trying to hunt your shots, and really be looking for it in the shooting areas that you get,” Brandt said. “We talk about the confidence to win the games, and I think it’s also important to have the confidence in your shot when you do take one.”

Fortifying all-around toughness and consistency, meanwhile, are two areas that Brandt noted are imperative to improving upon with a defense that ranks last in the conference in terms of points allowed per game.

The relative unfamiliarity that accompanies a coach new to a program has been a significant factor in the team’s slower start, Brandt admitted, as has the unpredictable practice schedule as it pertains to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

To combat the struggles, the former Southern Methodist University associate head coach has pounded into the minds of the Beavers the importance of not only staying physically tough, but remembering the intricacies of their defensive strategy that are often overlooked.

The foundation is in place, though, and the Beavers are off to their best start since the 2018-19 campaign when the team went 7-11 through its first 18 contests. Postseason play, and further success, is naturally Brandt’s highest priority, but the team must put in the work and take the requisite steps to get there.

“We’re trying to do the old adage, we want to take it one game at a time, but we want to do that, we want to make sure we have a great chance of trying to get into the conference tournament,” Brandt said. “Our focus right now of course is just game by game, getting these wins in the conference that we finish high enough in the standings to make the conference tournament.”