NDSU Travels to Western Michigan for First Road Test of the Season Wednesday

Wednesday, November 19

Kalamazoo, Mich.

6 p.m.

North Dakota State

Western Michigan

Photo by: Bob Nelson

NDSU Travels to Western Michigan for First Road Test of the Season Wednesday

11/17/2014 4:39:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Game 3: at Western Michigan (1-0) | Wednesday, Nov. 19 | 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT)
University Arena | Kalamazoo, Mich.
Live Stats | Live Video (PPV) | Free Live Audio
Radio: KFGO 790-AM (Jack Michaels, play-by-play), 6:40 p.m. ET (5:40 p.m. CT) airtime

Complete NDSU Notes (PDF) | NDSU Women's Basketball on Twitter

NDSU Travels to Western Michigan for First Road Test of the Season
        After splitting a pair of home games to tip-off the 2014-15 regular season, the North Dakota State women's basketball team will trek to Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Mich., for its first road test of the season on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT).

The Series Against Western Michigan
        Wednesday's non-conference showdown in Kalamazoo will mark the first-ever meeting between the Bison and the Broncos in women's basketball.

About Western Michigan
        The Broncos enter Wednesday's game with an overall record of 1-0 after defeating UMass in their season opener at home, 63-41, on Friday, Nov. 14, in Kalamazoo. WMU is receiving 14 votes in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll.
        Senior Jazmine Windham paced the Broncos with 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting, while fellow senior Michelle O'Brien tallied a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Junior Jessica Jessing rounded out the double figure scoring for Western Michigan with 10 points.
        The Broncos shot 36 percent from the field, going 25-for-69, but were just 6-for-26 from three-point range for 23 percent. Western Michigan made seven of eight free throw attempts for 88 percent. WMU tallied 38 rebounds, 10 assists, seven turnovers, four blocks and 12 steals in the contest.
        Last season, the Broncos compiled a 13-18 overall record and a Mid-American Conference (MAC) mark of 8-10, finishing in fourth place in the conference's West division.

Catching Up With The Bison

North Dakota State enters Wednesday's game with an overall record of 1-1 after splitting a pair of home games to tip-off the 2014-15 regular season. The Bison won their season opener Friday, Nov. 14, over Kent State, 74-68, before falling to Milwaukee, 77-73, on Sunday, Nov. 16.
Through two games, senior point guard Brooke LeMar leads the Bison with 21.5 points per game (ppg) and 3.5 assists per game (apg), while junior forward Marena Whittle is averaging 11.5 ppg and a team-high 9.0 rebounds per game (rpg). Junior forward Holly Johnson is averaging 10.5 ppg with 7.5 rpg, and junior guard Kahla Becken and sophomore forward Emily Spier are averaging 10.0 ppg, respectively.
First season NDSU head coach Maren Walseth collected her first career victory as a head coach in the win over Kent State Friday.
As a team, NDSU is averaging 73.5 ppg while holding its opponents to 72.5 per game. The Bison are shooting .367 (47-128) from the field, compared to .456 (52-114) for their opponents.

Getting to the Line
The Bison went 39-for-54 at the free throw line in their first two games. Brooke LeMar was an impressive 19-for-22 (86 percent) from the charity stripe in the two contests, including a career-best 12-for-14 in the win against Kent State Friday.

A Career Afternoon
        Emily Spier tallied new career-highs for points (14) and rebounds (8) in the game against Milwaukee on Sunday. The Buffalo, Minn., native shot 50 percent from the field, going 6-for-12.

Crashing the Boards
        Marena Whittle holds the career record for defensive rebounding average at NDSU with 4.9 boards per game and ranks eighth in overall career rebounding average with 7.2 per game.

From Downtown!
        Kahla Becken is a team-best 4-for-7 (57 percent) from three-point range through NDSU's first two games. Marena Whittle is 2-for-4 (50 percent) from three, while Brooke LeMar is 4-for-10 (40 percent) and freshman Taylor Thunstedt is 3-for-8 (38 percent).

Taking Care of the Basketball
        NDSU has turned the ball over 26 times, compared to 42 miscues from its opponents, and scored 56 points off turnovers in its first two contests.

NDSU in The Summit League Statistics
        After two games, NDSU has the fewest turnovers in The Summit League with only 13 and ranks second in ppg with 73.5 and apg with 14.5. The Bison are fourth in free throw percentage (72 percent) and three-point field goal percentage (36 percent) and fifth in total field goal percentage (37 percent). North Dakota State has struggled rebounding the basketball through two games and sits in ninth in the league standings with an average of 35.5 boards per game.

New Home
        The Bison will compete in the historic Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse for the next two seasons as the Bison Sports Arena is renovated into the new Scheels Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex.

NDSU Women's Basketball Signs Two High School Standouts on Early Signing Day
        North Dakota State women's basketball head coach Maren Walseth announced Wednesday, Nov. 12, the signing of high school standouts Kennedy Childers and Megan Gamble to National Letters of Intent to attend North Dakota State University and play basketball beginning in the fall of 2015.
        Childers, a 5-foot-9 guard from West Des Moines, Iowa, has enjoyed a standout prep career at Iowa 5A powerhouse Dowling Catholic High School.
        A three-star athlete who was the 31st-ranked guard in her position by ESPN, Childers has helped Dowling Catholic to two 5A state championship appearances and one state championship. She was limited to only seven games her junior season due to injury.
        Childers has also excelled in the classroom, having earned Academic All-Conference for the Central Iowa Metropolitan League the past two seasons and Presidential Honor Roll honors each semester at Dowling Catholic.
        Childers played AAU basketball for Kingdom Hoops Elite. This past summer she helped her team win the 2014 USJN National Championship in Augusta, Ga.
        She is the daughter of Chris and Kris Childers.
        Gamble, a 5-foot-7 guard from Omaha, Neb., is a two-time all-state honorable mention selection at Central High School.
        A three-year starter for Central, she helped her team to a Class A state championship appearance in 2012 and a third-place state finish in 2013. Gamble averaged 13 points per game and dished out five assists per game during her junior season. The 5-foot-7 guard also earned all-Metro Team accolades and was selected as a team captain twice by her teammates.
        She is the daughter of Teri Murphy and Dexter Dawson.

Bison Ninth in Summit League Preseason Poll
The North Dakota State University women's basketball team was picked ninth in The Summit League preseason poll released Tuesday, Oct. 7, by the league office.
        The Bison tallied 158 points in the poll.
        South Dakota State was selected to capture the 2014-15 Summit League women's basketball championship after winning its third consecutive regular season title a year ago. The Jackrabbits collected 27-of-32 first-place votes and 513 points in a vote of the league's head coaches, SIDs and select media.
        South Dakota, last season's tournament champion, earned four first-place votes and 420 points to place second in the poll. Regular season runner-up IUPUI was in third place followed by Western Illinois in fourth with the final first-place tally. Denver, which finished second at the tournament a year ago, came in fifth while Fort Wayne placed sixth. Oral Roberts, which returns to the league for the first time since 2011-12, Omaha and the Bison rounded out the poll.

Preseason Honors
        Senior guard Brooke LeMar, the reigning Summit League Newcomer of the Year and a second team all-league selection in 2013-14, was named to the preseason Summit League first team after averaging 15.1 points and 5.3 assists per game last season.

Three NDSU Women's Basketball Games to be Televised during the 2014-15 Regular Season
        The North Dakota State women's basketball team will be featured on television three times during the upcoming 2014-15 regular season, NDSU athletics and The Summit League announced Tuesday, Oct. 14.
        NDSU's non-conference game at Scheels Arena against North Dakota on Dec. 6 will be televised throughout the state of North Dakota on MeTV. The television network is available via over-the-air channels in Bismarck (5.2), Minot (10.2), Williston (8.2) and Dickinson (7.2) as well as through additional providers.
        The Bison will also have a pair of Summit League contests carried on Midco Sports Network and ESPN3 through the league's television package. The home game at Scheels Arena on Jan. 4 and the road contest at South Dakota on Jan. 15 will be broadcast.
        The Summit League announced a composite 2014-15 basketball television schedule that includes over 100 regional or national broadcasts. Included in that total are at least 70 games that will be available across the ESPN Family of Networks with nearly all of those available across multiple platforms via WatchESPN.
        Highlighting the schedule is a package of games on Midco Sports Network and ESPN3 that includes the first two rounds of The Summit League Basketball Championships and an additional 21 regular season men's and women's basketball broadcasts. All 14 Summit League Tournament games, including ESPNU's telecast of The Summit League Women's Basketball Championship game and ESPN/ESPN2's broadcast of the men's title game, will also be available on WatchESPN.
        The 2014-15 season will mark the first year of the new national distribution for the MidcoSN telecasts that allows fans everywhere to watch online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and streamed on television through Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Up Next
            The Bison are idle until Nov. 28-29 when they travel to Boca Raton, Fla., to compete in the Florida Atlantic University Holiday Tournament. NDSU will open against Northeastern (Mass.) on the 28th at 2:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. CT) before playing again on the 29th against an opponent to be determined.

The Opposing Coach
Shane Clipfell - Western Michigan - The Western Michigan Division of Intercollegiate Athletics officially announced the hiring of Shane Clipfell as the sixth women's basketball coach in program history, Friday, April 13, 2012.
        In the previous 14 years prior to Western Michigan, Clipfell worked in different capacities on a Suzy Merchant staff. He began with Merchant as an assistant at Eastern Michigan during the 1998-99 season and coached alongside Merchant at Michigan State for five years after Merchant took the Spartan helm in 2007-08. For the final three years, Clipfell served as the associate head coach at Michigan State.
        Prior to coaching at the Division I level, Clipfell spent five seasons at Glen Oaks Community College, including three as head coach, and 11 years as the varsity head coach at Colon High School.
        Clipfell earned a Bachelor of Science degree in communications at Eastern Michigan in 2006.

Head Coach Maren Walseth
        Maren Walseth was named the 10th head women's basketball coach in NDSU history Monday, April 14, 2014.
        Walseth joined the Bison after spending seven years as an assistant coach at Big Ten power Penn State University in State College, Pa., where she helped the Lady Lions to three Big Ten championships, four NCAA tournament appearances and two NCAA Sweet 16 appearances.
        At Penn State, Walseth was primarily responsible for coaching the post players while also playing a significant role in recruiting and opponent scouting efforts. She was the lead academic liaison for the Lady Lions and coached 32 Academic All-Big Ten recipients.
        Prior to becoming an assistant at Penn State, Walseth spent three years as an assistant coach at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. While at Navy, she assisted with recruiting as well as on-court player development and scouting, and was also the academic liaison for the Midshipmen.
        A native of Bloomington, Minn., Walseth was a two-time All-Big Ten selection and a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree as a forward at Penn State from 1997-2002. She was also a key member of the 2000 Lady Lion team that advanced to the Final Four and claimed the Big Ten conference championship. Walseth also was a member of the 1998 WNIT championship team. She graduated from Penn State in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in communications.
        Walseth was drafted by the Sacramento Monarchs in the third-round of the 2001 WNBA draft and spent four years playing professionally. She played for the Washington Mystics of the WNBA in 2002 before spending two years playing professionally in France. Walseth also spent a season with the Women's National Basketball League's (NWBL) Colorado Chill.
        Walseth's sister, Annika, played for NDSU during the 2007-08 season.