North Dakota State Hosts Montana State in Second Annual Katherine "K." Burgum Classic at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 30
12/27/2007 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
THE SERIES:
This will be the fifth meeting with Montana State ... The Bison hold a 3-1 advantage in the series ... The teams met last season when NDSU defeated the Bobcats 74-62 in the finals of the MSU Thanksgiving Classic at Bozeman ... North Dakota State is 7-7 against members of the Big Sky Conference including a 75-68 loss at Northern Arizona in the season opener.ABOUT MONTANA STATE:
The Bobcats are coming off an 82-68 loss to Gonzaga on Dec. 21 ... Montana State plays at North Dakota on Dec. 28 ... MSU has three players scoring in double-figures including 5-9 senior Robin Mercer (15.7 ppg), who is hitting 44 percent (22-50) from the three-point stripe ... The Bobcats are hitting 32.9 percent (50-152) from three-point overall as 6-1 freshman Sarah Strand (11.4 ppg, 4.5 rpg) has hit 11 of 28 ... Six-foot-one senior Krislyn Wallace (12.7 ppg, 6.2 rpg) is coming off a 24-point, 7-rebound effort in the loss to Gonzaga.BISON FAST BREAK:
North Dakota State senior Lisa Bue is bidding to become the 27th NDSU women's basketball player to score 1,000 points in a career and the first since the 2005 season when Leah Klabo (1,072, 2001-05) achieved the milestone ... Bue is currently No. 29 with 954 points in 89 career games ... She moved past Michelle Fricke (2002-04) and her 953 points last weekend ... Mari Matheson (969, 1979-83) and Jill DeVries (963, 1987-91) are within Bue's sights ... Senior Emily Moran hit the eventual game-winning three-pointer with 57 seconds left as North Dakota State defeated host Milwaukee 67-64 on Dec. 20 ... The Bison shot a season best 52.6 percent from the field against the Panthers including 55.6 percent in the second half ... With her 28-point explosion against Minnesota and 22-point effort vs. Wright State, Moran has four 20-plus point efforts in her brief NDSU career (35 games) ... Senior Amanda Girodat dropped in a career-high 21 points against Valley City State (12-15-07) ... She hit her first five three-point attempts and challenged the single-game three-point field goal percentage record set previously by Katie Lorenz vs. Cincinnati (1-12-05) ... Girodat handed out a career-high 12 assists in the loss to Wright State (11-25-07), her second career double-figure assist game ... Her third came at Centenary (12-8-07) with 10 assists and 11 points ... Girodat (7 apg) was No. 1 in The Summit League and fifth in the NCAA's statistic report Dec. 18 ... NDSU has led at halftime in nine of 11 games this season ... Six-foot senior Brenda Slyt scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to record her first career "double-double" in the 73-68 loss at Oral Roberts (12-10-07) ... The 10 rebounds were a career best ... Slyt has scored 59 of her 94 points over the last five games in the second half ... North Dakota State is 0-3 in overtime games the past two seasons and 13-12 overall in OT ... The last overtime win came against Bentley (2003-04) ... Senior Annika Walseth busted out of a mini-slump to start the season at Idaho on Dec. 1 ... Walseth hadn't scored in the first five games ... Walseth came off the bench to net a career-high 15 points ... She hit 3 of 4 from the field including a pair of three-pointers in two attempts, and 7 of 7 from the foul line ... Her previous career best was 11 points vs. BYU (2-14-05) while at Colorado State ... ... Bison junior Jerri Penley has tied her career-high twice with six blocked shots against Valley City State (12-15-07) and Minnesota (11-20-07) this season -- matching her effort last season vs. East Carolina (12-2-06) ... Penley has 30 blocks this season, 92 in her career and is No. 10 on the NDSU all-time charts ... Penley would be tied for No. 18 in the NCAA statistics ... The Bison recorded a season-high 11 blocked shots against Valley City State (12-15-07) ... NDSU leads the Summit League and is tied for No. 10 in the NCAA in blocked shots (6.2 bpg).BISON ON RADIO:
WDAY 970 AM of Fargo is the flagship station of the Bison Radio Network ... Stations on the network include WDAY-AM 970 (Fargo), KLXX-AM 1270 (Bismarck), KQLX-FM 106.1 (Lisbon), KGFX-FM 92.7 (Pierre, SD), KJJZ AM 1450 (Rugby), KHRT-AM 1320 (Minot) and KPOK-AM 1340 (Bowman) ... WDAY 970 AM's Brad Anderson will handle the play-by-play Sunday, while NDSU Director of Athletic Broadcasting Jeremy Jorgenson will add the color ... Pregame starts 15 minutes prior to tip-off ... Games will be available on www.GoBison.com.BISON FEEDBACK: North Dakota State women's basketball coach Amy Ruley and men's basketball coach Saul Phillips will field questions during the season on Tuesday evenings from 6:30-7:30 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 this weekend ... Click on the "Live Stats" link at the left side of the page for the schedule of events.SUMMIT TV: Live streaming video of all North Dakota State HOME basketball and Summit League road games will be available on the Internet ... Summit TV is the live and on-demand video service available by subscription at www.TheSummitLeague.org.
BUE GOES DOUBLE-TIME, BRINGS HOME HOLIDAY BEACH CLASSIC ALL-TOURNEY HONORS:
Senior Lisa Bue recorded her second straight "daily-double" and the fourth of her career with 11 points and 10 rebounds at Idaho (12-1-07) ... She had 16 points and 10 rebounds against Wright State (11-25-07) on her way to all-tourney honors at the Cal Poly Holiday Beach Classic.NDSU SIGNS TWO DURING EARLY SIGNING: Lincoln Southeast (Neb.) High School's 5-foot-8 guard Katie Birkel and Clarendon (Texas) Junior College's 5-7 sophomore guard Nicole Vigil (pronounced vee-hill) have signed to play basketball and continue their education at North Dakota State ... Vigil will have two years of eligibility remaining ... NDSU Women's Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Amy Ruley made the announcement Nov. 14 during the first day of the NCAA's early signing period.
WILKA DECIDES TO LEAVE NDSU PROGRAM: Six-foot freshman guard Tessa Wilka announced she will leave the North Dakota State women's basketball program and transfer to another school. Wilka has not yet made a decision on which school she will attend.
CAPTAINS: Seniors Lisa Bue, Amanda Girodat and Emily Moran were selected North Dakota State women's basketball captains for the 2007-08 season by vote of their teammates.
ABOUT THE BISON:
North Dakota State returns nine players including seven with starting experience from last season's 14-11 team ... The top five scorers are back with seniors Lisa Bue (14.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg), Brenda Slyt (12.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg), Emily Moran (8.2 ppg, 1.7 rpg) and Amanda Girodat (5 ppg, 3.3 rpg), along with top rebounder and shot blocker Jerri Penley (6 ppg, 5.6 rpg) ... Bue and Slyt were both named to the 2007 All-Division I Independent first team, while Moran landed a spot on the Division I Indepedent All-Newcomer team ... Girodat was honorable mention on the All-Division I Independent team.BISON PICKED FOURTH IN SUMMIT: For the second consecutive season, Oral Roberts has been selected as the preseason favorite to capture the 2007-08 women's basketball championship, according to polling of league coaches, sports information directors and selected media members. North Dakota State was fourth and picked up the remaining two first-place votes and 266 points ... Senior Lisa Bue was named to the preseason all-league first team.
THE RULEY FILE: Amy Ruley is in her 29th year as head coach of the Bison ... Ruley has compiled a record of 659-193, good for a .774 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 recognized as one of the South Shore Sports Legends in Northwest Indiana this fall ... 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 650th win in her career when NDSU defeated New Jersey Tech on Feb. 10 ... At that time, she became the 11th active Division I women's basketball coach to reach the milestone ... 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 final 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 FCS level and is a charter member of the Great West Football Conference (formed in 2004) ... NDSU joined The Summit League in 2007-08.
