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BEMIDJI -- Two years ago, the Bemidji State women鈥檚 basketball team shocked the conference with a stunning playoff upset over top-seeded Concordia-St. Paul.

Now again matched with CSP this postseason, the Beavers know the narrative has sure changed this time around.

鈥淲ay different. We don鈥檛 have to preach a miracle story or something like that,鈥� BSU head coach Chelsea DeVille said. 鈥溾�� We have a great opportunity to take a next step for our program. It doesn鈥檛 need to be a Cinderella story.鈥�

Bemidji State has itself authoring the program鈥檚 most successful year in a quarter century. Now the focus turns to making history where it matters most.

鈥淲e鈥檝e taken a lot of steps this year,鈥� DeVille said. 鈥淭his is the next step: not just making it to the Pentagon, but getting a win there. Getting an opportunity to advance would be important.鈥�

The Beavers (9-5, 8-4 NSIC North) landed the North Division鈥檚 No. 3 seed in the NSIC Tournament, earning them a trip to the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. The South Division鈥檚 No. 2-seeded Golden Bears will be waiting for them in the quarterfinals.

鈥淲e came all this way in the regular season,鈥� sophomore center Rachael Heittola said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e shown people that we鈥檙e not just some team you can look past anymore. We鈥檙e going to give you a run for your money. I feel like we鈥檝e come all this way, so let鈥檚 go show the (conference) what we鈥檙e made of.鈥�

BSU has made the NSIC Tournament semifinals just once, in 2003-04, and has never reached the championship game. But this year鈥檚 squad has proven to be more than capable of breaking droughts, evidenced by clinching their first winning season since 1995-96.

鈥淲e鈥檙e the team that we always knew we could be,鈥� junior guard Trinity Myer said. 鈥淲e know now that we鈥檙e capable of actually competing with other teams, not necessarily always being the underdog.鈥�

Thanks to that opening-round upset in 2018-19, Bemidji State reached the quarterfinals and, in turn, the Pentagon. The Beavers then lost to St. Cloud State, but they鈥檙e drawing on that experience as they return to Heritage Court.

鈥淔or once, we鈥檙e the veteran team,鈥� Myer said. 鈥淎ll of us upperclassmen, for sure, have that experience. We鈥檝e been to the Pentagon before. Now it鈥檚 our time to actually compete there and play our game.鈥�

The showdown begins early with a 10 a.m. tipoff on Friday, Feb. 26. The winner will face either North No. 1 Minnesota Duluth or South No. 4 Sioux Falls at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 27, in the semifinals, with the conference championship game set for 1 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28.

No fans will be allowed to attend, but all games will be on Midco Sports Network and nsicnetwork.com.

The focus begins with Concordia-St. Paul (11-5, 9-5 NSIC South), and BSU surely won鈥檛 look past them.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e definitely looking to shoot the three,鈥� Heittola said of CSP鈥檚 conference-best 37% clip from deep. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 need a lot of room to shoot it, so we really have to be up in their face on defense. They also like to push pace. As long as we keep up with them and play our game, it should be a good game.鈥�

Two years ago, Bemidji State busted brackets and fired shockwaves throughout the conference in the playoffs. If the Beavers have their way again this season, it shouldn鈥檛 come as so much of a surprise.

This team鈥檚 had a knack for history.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a great time of year,鈥� DeVille said. 鈥淢aking it back to the Pentagon is always a goal of ours. We鈥檙e really, really excited for Friday. We have a difficult matchup, but everyone that we would see would be, so we鈥檙e excited for the challenge to take on Concordia-St. Paul again.鈥�