North Dakota State (6-4, Division I Independent) is scheduled to play at the University of Alabama (9-4, 0-0 SEC) at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 30, at Coleman Coliseum (15,341) in Tuscaloosa, Ala. ... The Bison completed the recent homestand with a 4-0 record and ride a four-game winning streak into Saturday's game ... With the 62-48 win over Minnesota on Dec. 22, NDSU climbed over .500 mark for the first time since the 2004-05 season ... The Crimson Tide host South Dakota State at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 28 ... Alabama has already matched its win total of last season with the nine victories ... The Crimson Tide have won two in a row and six of their last eight games ... The two losses came on the road against Tulane and Louisiana Tech ... Alabama is 8-0 at home this season ... The Crimson Tide have two players scoring in double figures in Navonda Moore (14.5 ppg) and Kate Mastin (14 ppg) ... Mastin has hit 37 of 88 three-point field goals for 42 percent, while Moore has cashed in 13 of 47 treys ... Alabama has hit 75 of 209 three-point attempts ... Balanced on the boards, Talisha Chandler tops the Tide in rebounding (6.4 rpg) ... Nikki Davis runs the show, with a team-high 60 assists and 31 steals.
North Dakota State is scheduled to play at Middle Tennessee State (10-3, 3-0 Sun Belt Conference) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 2, at the Murphy Center (11,500) at Murfreesboro, Tenn. ... The Blue Raiders have won seven in a row including a 76-62 win against rival Western Kentucky on Dec. 27 ... Middle Tennessee State's losses have been to No. 1 Maryland, No. 4 Tennessee and South Dakota State ... The Blue Raiders defeated Minnesota 79-61 in the Gophers' Subway Classic on Dec. 19 in Minneapolis ... Middle Tennessee is ready to crack both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Top 25 polls, listed at No. 26 in both national rankings ... The Blue Raiders also have an impressive 70-62 road win over then No.8-ranked Georgia in early December ... Naismith and All-America candidate Chrissy Givens is the catalyst for the Middle Tennessee State attack ... The 5-foot-10 Givens is averaging 21.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5 assists and 2.5 steals per game ... Givens has help with 6-foot junior Amber Holt, who is second on the team in scoring (18.2 ppg) and leads in rebounding (6.9 rpg) ... The Blue Raiders have averaged 80.1 points per game on offense, connecting on 46.4 percent from the field and 75.2 percent from the foul line ... North Dakota State was listed at No. 144 out of 335 Division I women's basketball teams at 70.32 in the Sagarin rankings through games played Dec. 27 ... Middle Tennessee State is No. 13 at 90.54 and Alabama is No. 112 at 73.78.
THE SERIES: This will be the second meeting between North Dakota State and the University of Alabama with the Bison holding a 1-0 advantage in the series ... NDSU defeated Alabama 68-56 before a crowd of 1,899 at the Bison Sports Arena on Dec. 20, 2005 ... Katie Lorenz had 18 points, while Brandee Gibbs, Danni Heintzelman and Lorenz each had seven rebounds ... The Bison are 1-1 against current members of the Southeastern Conference.
This will be the second meeting between North Dakota State and Middle Tennessee State with the Bison holding a 1-0 advantage in the series ... NDSU defeated Middle Tennessee State 65-58 before a crowd of 2,072 at the Bison Sports Arena on Dec. 4, 2005 ... Lorenz had a "daily double" with 21 points and 11 rebounds.
BISON ON RADIO: WDAY 970 AM, Fargo ... WDAY Radio sports director Scott Miller will handle the play-by-play ... Pregame starts 25 minutes prior to tip-off ... The game is available online by subscription at www.bisonzone.com.
BISON BASKETBALL SHOW: The Bison Basketball Show hosted by former NDSU standout Ross Manson with women's basketball coach Amy Ruley and men's basketball coach Tim Miles will air 10:30 p.m. on WDAY-TV (ABC, Channel 6, Fargo) ... The show will take the holidays off (Dec. 24 and Dec. 31) and return Sunday, Jan. 7, and every Sunday until the end of the season ... The Bison Basketball Show will also air at 11 p.m. Sundays in Grand Forks on WDAZ-TV, and on KBMY-TV in Bismarck and KMCY-TV in Minot on Wednesdays at 10 p.m.
BISON FEEDBACK: North Dakota State women's basketball coach Amy Ruley and men's basketball coach Tim Miles will field questions during the season on Wednesday evenings from 6:45-7:30 p.m. on Bison Feedback hosted by WDAY 970-Radio Sports Director Scott Miller.
LIVE STATS: Live in-game statistics will be available on the Internet at www.GoBison.com. Click on the "Live Stats" link at the left side of the page for the schedule of events.
THE LAST TIME OUT: Lisa Bue scored a game and career-high 21 points as North Dakota State led from wire to wire in a 62-48 win over Minnesota in the first annual Katherine Burgum Classic played Dec. 22, before a crowd season-high crowd of 3,543 at the Bison Sports Arena. NDSU its winning streak to four games.
Minnesota, which trailed 33-25 at halftime, stormed back into the game in the second and closed to within 41-40 with 11:17 remaining on a Katie Ohm three-pointer. Ohm led the Golden Gophers with a team-high 12 points.
However, North Dakota State went on a 9-2 run after that to widen the margin to 50-42 at the six minute mark on Bue's first of several crucial field goals down the stretch. She had 11 of NDSU's final 21 points in the contest. Bue hit 7 of 13 field goals and 6 of 8 from the foul line overall.
The Gophers didn't recover, and NDSU received important buckets from Kayla Dahlen, Brenda Slyt, Amanda Girodat and Bue in the final minutes to build a double-digit advantage.
North Dakota State scored 20 points off of 15 turnovers, outrebounded Minnesota 43-32 and hit 73.1 percent (19-26) from the free throw line compared to 50 percent (17-34) for the Gophers. Bue snagged nine rebounds while Katie Dahlen pulled down a career-high seven boards.
The Bison jumped out to a 7-0 lead and led 33-23 with 2:36 left on a steal and layup by Slyt. Slyt hit 5 of 11 from the field and all six free throw attempts for 16 points.
North Dakota State hit 39.2 percent from the field compared to 30.4 percent for Minnesota. The Bison outscored the Gophers 17-3 in second chance points.
Bue was selected the Classic's NDSU player of the game, while Minnesota's Ashley Ellis-Milan, who pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds and scored eight points was named the Golden Gophers top player.
BISON CAPTURE WINGATE INN THANKSGIVING CLASSIC TITLE: Jerri Penley recorded a career-high 16 points and nine rebounds as North Dakota State defeated host Montana State 74-62 in the Wingate Inn Thanksgiving Classic championship game Nov. 25, before a crowd of 987 at the Worthington Arena.
The Bison broke a 14-game losing streak on the road. NDSU's last road win was at Montana State-Billings on Feb. 12, 2005.
Penley led a group of three players in double-figures. Classic MVP Lisa Bue scored 13 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out four assists against the Bobcats (2-3). Bue and Penley were joined on the all-tournament team by junior Brenda Slyt, who dropped in 15 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the field.
WORKING OVERTIME: The 73-70 double-overtime loss to East Carolina University on Dec. 2 matched the longest in NDSU women's basketball history ... North Dakota State defeated Northern Colorado 100-97 on Jan. 3, 2000, in Greeley, Colo. ... The Bison drop to 13-11 in overtime games including the 55-50 setback to Northern Arizona on Nov. 19 this season.
BISON IN THE NCAA STATISTICS: North Dakota State's Jerri Penley would be tied for No. 17 in blocked shots (2.6 bpg) in the NCAA Division I basketball stats released Dec. 18 ... She is tied with Kansas State's Marlies Gipson ... Collectively, the Bison ared tied for No. 34 in field goal percentage defense (.356) with Coastal Carolina ... NDSU is tied at No. 35 with Illinois at 4.9 blocked shots per game ... The next NCAA report will be after the first of the year.
NDSU IN THE DIVISION I INDEPENDENT STATISTICS: North Dakota State had several athletes listed among the Division I Independent individual stat leaders thru games played Dec. 17. Individually, Lisa Bue is No. 6 in three-point field goal shooting (.391, 9-23), No. 7 in scoring (13.8 ppg) and assists (2.88 apg), No. 9 in blocked shots (0.75 bpg) and No. 10 in rebounding (5.6 rpg) ; Brenda Slyt is No. 15 in scoring (10.4 ppg); Jerri Penley is No. 1 in field goal shooting (.592, 29-49) and blocked shots (2.63 bpg), and No. 4 in rebounding (7 rpg); Kayla Dahlen is No. 1 in free throw shooting (.938, 15-16); Katie Dahlen is No. 10 in assists (2.63 apg), and Jenna Lemnus is No. 9 in blocked shots (0.75 bpg) ... Collectively, North Dakota State leads Division I independents in field goal percentage defense (.356, 175-491), rebound margin (+4.1) and blocked shots (4.88 bpg). The next report will be after the first of the year.
THE RULEY FILE: Amy Ruley is in her 28th year as head coach of the Bison. Ruley has compiled a record of 646-180, good for a .782 winning percentage ... Ruley was named as the head coach on the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball 25th Anniversary team ... NDSU's fourth straight NCAA title in 1996 was selected as one of the "25 Defining Moments in NCAA History" ... She was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June, 2004, and the Purdue Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in November, 2004 ... Ruley was a contributing writer for the book, "She Can Coach -- Tools for Success from 20 top Women Coaches" ... The NDSU coach authored an article dealing with "Networking" ... Coaches from all levels and representing 13 different sports are featured in the book edited by Dr. Cecile Reynaud ... Ruley recorded the 600th win in her 25-year career when NDSU defeated Augustana (78-73) on Feb. 14, 2004. She became only the second active Division II women's basketball coach to reach 600 wins and the 14th at any NCAA Division (I, II or III) ... Ruley was inducted into the North Dakota Sports Hall of Fame in June, 2000, and was listed No. 8 on the "50 Greatest Sports Figures in North Dakota" as selected by the staff of Sports Illustrated in January 2000 ... Ruley received the inaugural C. Vivian Stringer Women's Coaching Award by the United States Sports Academy in 2002, and also received the Fargo Optimist Club's 2002 Friend of the Youth Award for her work with the youth in the Fargo-Moorhead community ... The 1993 WBCA Division II Coach of the Year, she directed the Bison to 25 straight winning seasons (1980-05), twenty 20-win seasons and 18 NCAA playoff berths ... NDSU has made nine NCAA Final Four appearances including five national titles in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996 ... The Bison also won or shared 10 NCC titles.
THE RECLASSIFICATION: North Dakota State is in its fourth year of a five-year NCAA reclassification from Division II to Division I ... The Bison will not be eligible for NCAA playoffs until the 2008-09 season in any sport except wrestling and women's volleyball, which became tournament eligible in 2006-07 ... NDSU's football program competes at the Division I-AA level and is a charter member of the Great West Football Conference (formed in 2004) ... NDSU will join the Mid-Continent Conference in 2007-08.
