Road Trippin'
       After facing Northern Iowa Nov. 20, the Bison will not return home to the Bison Sports Arena until Dec. 17, when they face Mississippi State. Between then, NDSU will travel to Milwaukee, Wis. to face Milwaukee, Los Angeles to participate in the DoubleTree LA Westside Thanksgiving Classic, Colorado Springs to take part in the Air Force Classic and Grand Forks to face rival North Dakota. The Bison will travel a total of 6,712 miles before their next home game.
NDSU at Home
       North Dakota State has compiled a 408-76 (.843) record at home, including a 104-37 mark inside the "Friendly Confines" over the past 10 seasons good for a .738 winning percentage. The Bison are 1-1 at home this season.
NDSU Women's Basketball Inks Three on Early Signing Day
       North Dakota State women's basketball head coach Carolyn DeHoff announced Wednesday, Nov. 13, the signing of Olivia Baker, McKenna Happke and Taylor Thunstedt to National Letters of Intent to attend North Dakota State University and play basketball beginning in fall 2014.
       Baker, a 6-foot-4 post player from Minnetonka, Minn., is a four-year letterwinner on the basketball court at Minnetonka High School. She has played varsity basketball all four years at Minnetonka.
       Happke, a 6-1 forward from Coon Rapids, Minn., is a two-time all-conference selection at Providence Academy in Plymouth, Minn. Happke was part of the 2012 Class 2A state champion basketball team, a member of the team that took fourth at the state tournament in 2011 and third at state last season. Happke has been named the team captain her upcoming senior year.
       Thunstedt, a 5-8 guard from Spicer, Minn., is a three-time all-conference selection at New London-Spicer. She is also a three-time, first-team all-area honoree and garnered all-state accolades her sophomore and junior seasons after honorable mention as a freshman. Thunstedt set a new single-game scoring record at New London-Spicer her junior year, scoring 50 points in a game against Glencoe-Silver Lake. She also set a new record for 3-pointers attempted in a season (119) and broke the all-time school scoring record. Thunstedt averaged 29 points and made 104 threes that year. Â
Bison Eighth in Summit League Preseason Poll
       The North Dakota State women's basketball team was tabbed eighth in The Summit League preseason poll released Tuesday, Oct. 15 by the league office. The Bison received 74 points in the poll.
       NDSU returns nine student-athletes from last season's team, including one starter in sophomore forward
Marena Whittle. She started 26-of-29 games in 2012-13, averaging 6.7 points and 7.1 rebounds.
       South Dakota State was picked to win the league after claiming its record fifth-consecutive Summit League tournament title and fourth regular season title in six years. The Jackrabbits collected 27-of-30 first-place votes and 319 points in the voting conducted by the league's head coaches, SIDs and media.
       IUPUI was picked to finish runner-up in the poll, collecting three first-place votes and 276 points, after finishing second in the regular season a year ago. South Dakota was third with 224 points followed by Fort Wayne in fourth with 179. League newcomer Denver, Western Illinois, Omaha and the Bison rounded out the poll.
       Fort Wayne's Amanda Hyde was voted as the league's preseason Player of the Year after garnering Player of the Year and first team All-Summit League honors last season.
       Accompanying Hyde on the first team are IUPUI's DeAirra Goss, 2013 Newcomer of the Year Western Illinois' Ashley Luke, last season's Tournament MVP South Dakota's Nicole Seekamp, Denver's Morgan Van Riper-Rose and South Dakota State's Megan Waytashek.
       The second team is composed of reigning Defensive Player of the Year in IUPUI's Dee-Dee Bellamy, South Dakota's Polly Harrington, Omaha's Ericka House, South Dakota State's Steph Paluch and Fort Wayne's Haley Seibert.
NDSU Women's Basketball to be Featured Twice on TV in 2013-14
       As part of NDSU's broadcast agreement with Hoak Media, the NDSU women's basketball home games against Mississippi State, Dec. 17, and South Dakota State, Jan. 25, will be aired throughout the state of North Dakota on MeTV.
The DeHoff File
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Carolyn DeHoff begins her sixth season as head women's basketball coach at North Dakota State University. She has compiled a 67-84 record overall including a 46-42 ledger in The Summit League.
       The Bison finished the 2013 season with an overall record of 10-19 and were 6-10 in league play. Seniors
Dani DeGagne and
Katie Birkel were both named to the All-Summit League second team.
       NDSU once again excelled in the classroom in 2013. The Bison placed 10th on the WBCA Academic Top 25 Honor Roll in NCAA Division I and had eight student-athletes named to The Summit League Commissioner's List of Academic Excellence. Nine Bison were also selected to the Winter/Spring Summit League Academic Honor Roll.
       DeHoff was introduced as North Dakota State University's ninth head women's basketball coach in the program's 48-year history at a press conference in April 2008.
       DeHoff replaced Women's Basketball Hall of Fame coach
Amy Ruley, who resigned in March 2008 to accept an associate athletic director for development position at North Dakota State.
       DeHoff completed her first season as associate head coach in 2007-08 and fifth overall on Elaine Elliott's Utah staff. The Utes finished 27-5 overall and won the Mountain West Conference regular season championship with a 16-0 record. Utah lost in the first round of the 2008 NCAA tournament. Her duties at Utah included coordinating recruiting efforts, point guard development, organization and planning of the schedule, coordination of academic affairs and directing summer camps.
       During her stay in Salt Lake City, the Utes won 123 games, three regular season conference championships and one MWC tournament title. Utah made three trips to the NCAA tournament including an Elite Eight berth in 2006 and a WNIT appearance in 2007. The Utes also had a pair of WNBA first round draft picks, along with second round pick in the 2008 draft.
       Her 18-year coaching resume includes a five-year stop at Weber State. The Wildcats went from a sub-.500 program to a back-to-back NCAA tournament participant. Weber State won consecutive Big Sky titles and posted back-to-back 20 win seasons.
       Prior to Weber State, DeHoff was the top assistant at Wyoming for seven seasons and also was an assistant coach at Coronado High School in Scottsdale, Ariz.
       A standout high school player at Cheyenne (Wyo.) East, DeHoff was a Street & Smith's All-America her senior year. She played at Arizona State University from 1987-90, where she was a captain.
       A native of Cheyenne, DeHoff graduated from Arizona State in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in exercise science and physical education. She was inducted into her high school athletic hall of fame during the fall of 2008.
The Opposing Coach
       Kyle Rechlicz enters her second season as the head coach of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee women's basketball team in 2013-14.
       She was 9-20 in her first season as head coach of the Panthers in 2012-13.
       Rechlicz has been associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for the University of Dayton (2007-2011) and the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for Cleveland State (2003-2007).
       She is a 2003 graduate of the University of Wisconsin.
Bison Basketball on the Radio
       Saturday's game against the Panthers will be broadcast live on KVOX 740-AM "The Fan" in Fargo-Moorhead. Jack Michaels will provide play-by-play. Pregame begins at 10:40 a.m. A free, live audio stream of the game will also be available at GoBison.com/Showcase.
Bison Basketball on the World Wide Web
       All home North Dakota State women's basketball games will be streamed live in high definition on a pay-per-view basis at GoBison.com/Showcase. Live stats courtesy of NDSU athletics and Stat Broadcast are available free of charge for every home basketball game. Postgame video highlights and interviews will also be available at GoBison.com and the NDSU athletics' YouTube page at YouTube.com/NDSUAthletics. Â
Up Next
    The Bison will head to Los Angeles to participate in the DoubleTree LA Westside Thanksgiving Classic Nov. 29-30.
