NDSU Tips-Off Summit League Play Friday Afternoon at Home Against Oral Roberts

Friday, January 2

Fargo, N.D.

4 p.m.

North Dakota State

Oral Roberts

Photo by: Richard Svaleson

NDSU Tips-Off Summit League Play Friday Afternoon at Home Against Oral Roberts

12/31/2014 3:45:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Game 13: Oral Roberts (6-7, 0-0 Summit League)
Friday, Jan. 2 | 4 p.m.
Scheels Arena (4,406) | Fargo, N.D.
Live Stats | Free Live Audio | Live Video
Radio: 740 "The Fan" (Jack Michaels, play-by-play), 3:40 p.m. airtime
TV: None

Complete NDSU Notes (PDF) | Complete ORU Notes (PDF) | Summit League Weekly Notes (PDF)

NDSU WBB on Twitter | #SummitWBB on Twitter

NDSU Begins Summit League Play Friday at Home Against Oral Roberts
        The NDSU women's basketball team (4-8) will tip-off Summit League play on Friday, Jan. 2, at 4 p.m. against the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (6-7) at Scheels Arena in Fargo.

The Series Against Oral Roberts
        Friday's contest against ORU will be the 12th meeting in the all-time series. The Bison trail the Golden Eagles, 4-7, in the series and have lost five straight games to Oral Roberts. NDSU's last victory against ORU was a 68-66 triumph in Fargo during the 2009-10 campaign.

About the Golden Eagles
        The Oral Roberts Golden Eagles are 6-7 overall entering Friday's showdown with the Bison after defeating St. Gregory's at home in Tulsa, Okla., on Dec. 29, 86-61.
        Through 13 games, redshirt-senior center Vicky McIntyre (Omaha, Neb.) paces ORU and The Summit League in rebounds per game (14.5) and blocks per game (4.8) and leads the Golden Eagles in scoring with 12.2 points per game. McIntyre's 4.8 blocks per game currently leads the nation, while her 14.5 boards per game ranks second.
        As a team, Oral Roberts is averaging 60.2 points per game but giving up 63.8 per game.
        ORU is under the direction of third season head coach Misti Cussen (Southern Nazarene, 1993).

Catching Up With The Bison
        North Dakota State is 4-8 overall entering Friday's league opener against Oral Roberts at Scheels Arena. The Bison have lost four consecutive regular season games, but claimed an 82-68 victory over Brandon University (Manitoba) in an exhibition game Monday, Dec. 29.
        Through 12 games, senior guard Brooke LeMar (Canyon Country, Calif.) leads North Dakota State and The Summit League in scoring with 18.2 points per game (ppg), while junior forward Holly Johnson (Minot, N.D.) is averaging 12.7 ppg and seven rebounds per game (rpg). Junior forward Marena Whittle (Vermont South, Victoria, Australia) leads the Bison on the glass with an average of 7.4 rpg, while senior forward Liz Keena (Hasting, Minn.) paces NDSU in offensive rebounding with 27 total offensive boards.
        As a team, North Dakota State is averaging 67.2 ppg, while its opponents are averaging 74.5 ppg. NDSU is being outrebounded, on average, 38.1 to 41.8.

Last Time Out: Johnson Powers Bison to 82-68 Exhibition Win Over Brandon University
        Holly Johnson had 22 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks to power North Dakota State to an 82-68 win over Brandon University in exhibition women's basketball Monday, Dec. 29, at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse.
        Brooke LeMar added 17 points, 10 assists and four steals for NDSU, which scored five players in double figures. Emily Spier finished with 12 points, Marena Whittle had 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Kahla Becken scored 10 points.
        North Dakota State opened a 19-4 lead less than six minutes into the game, but the Bison went cold. Brandon knotted the game at 26-26 before Johnson's bucket with 4:11 in the first half snapped a five-minute scoring drought and put the Bison ahead for good.
        NDSU led 41-36 at halftime and ramped up its defense to hold Brandon to just 27 percent shooting in the second half. The Bison blocked nine shots, made 17 steals and scored 33 points off turnovers in the game.
        Brandon held a 50-49 edge in rebounding, but NDSU converted 24 second-chance points. Johnson and Whittle each had six offensive rebounds.
        Alyssa Montgomery had 21 points for the Bobcats, Mikaela Stanton scored 15, and Amy Williams finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Last Time Out Against Oral Roberts: Luper Leads Oral Roberts to 84-75 Win Over North Dakota State
        Oral Roberts junior Kevi Luper scored 41 points to break the Summit League all-time scoring record and lead the Golden Eagles to an 84-75 victory over North Dakota State in women's basketball Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012 in the Play4Kay cancer awareness game.
        Luper broke the Summit scoring record of 2,105 points set by ORU's Krista Ragan on a jumper with 12:15 to go in the second half. She now has 2,120 career points and her 41 points tonight set a Bison Sports Arena record for individual opponent points scored.
        Hannah Linz hit five first half three-pointers to lead the Bison (8-16, 5-7 Summit). She finished with a career-high 18 points on six made treys. She was one of four Bison in double figures tonight.
        Janae Burich tallied her fourth career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Dani DeGagne also registered a double-double, the first of her career, with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Jamie Van Kirk scored 11 points and came close to a double-double with nine assists.
        The Golden Eagles went up by as many as 11 in the first half behind 19 points from Luper.
        ORU (15-8, 9-3 Summit) built an 18-point lead in the second half, but Van Kirk scored nine of her 11 points and Burich had 10 of her 15 in the second half to whittle the lead down to seven with 2:37 to go. The Golden Eagles went 9 of 10 from the free throw line over the final 2:30 to keep the game just out of reach for the Bison.
        Oral Roberts finished with 34 points off 23 Bison turnovers. NDSU shot 43.1 percent (25-58) and Oral Roberts shot 45.1 percent (32-71).

Breaking the 20-point Threshold
        Brooke LeMar has eclipsed the 20-point threshold five times this season after scoring more than 20 points nine times in 30 games last season. LeMar matched her career-high with 33 points against North Dakota on Dec. 6, posted 28 points at Cal State Fullerton Dec. 19, 25 in the regular season opener against Kent State Nov. 16, 22 against Mayville State Dec. 8, and 21 versus NJIT on Nov. 29 in the FAU Thanksgiving Tournament.

Bison in the Record Books
        Marena Whittle holds the career record for defensive rebounding average at NDSU with 5.0 boards per game and ranks eighth in overall career rebounding average with 7.2 per game. ... Brooke LeMar is tied for sixth in career free-throw percentage, going 168-210 from the charity stripe for 80 percent, and holds the career minutes average record, playing an average of 35.6 minutes per game.

From Downtown!
        Kahla Becken leads NDSU in three-point field-goal percentage through 12 games, making 18 of 52 attempts for 35 percent while Brooke LeMar is shooting 34 percent from long range, going 19-for-56.

Defending the Perimeter
        NDSU is holding its opponents to just 30 percent shooting (61-207) from three-point range through 12 games. The Bison are averaging 6.4 made threes per game, compared to 5.1 for their adversaries.

Sharing the Basketball
        The Bison have tallied double-digit assists in eight of 12 games this season. NDSU dished out a season-high 18 assists against Mayville State, 17 against Milwaukee and at Cal State Fullerton, 15 against North Dakota and at New Mexico State, 12 against Kent State and at Mississippi State, and 14 against Northeastern.

Creating Offense From Defense
        The Bison have scored 211 points off turnovers in their 12 contests, an average of 17.6 points per game.

Getting to the Basket
        The Bison have scored 67 points off fast break baskets through 12 games, compared to just 38 points from their adversaries. NDSU is averaging 5.6 fast break points per game.

NDSU in the NCAA National Statistics (As of Dec. 31)
Relevant Team Statistics:
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game - 87th out of 343 (6.4/game)

Relevant Individual Statistics:
Points Per Game - Brooke LeMar (62nd out of 250, 18.3/game) ... Assists Per Game - Brooke LeMar (84th out of 250, 4.3/game) ... Free-Throw Percentage - Brooke LeMar (56th out of 250, .857)

NDSU in The Summit League Statistics (As of Dec. 31)
Relevant Team Statistics:
Points - 6th (67.2/game) ... Rebounds - 8th (38.1/game) ... Assists - 5th (12.7/game) ... Steals - 4th (7.8/game) ... Blocks - 4th (3.7/game) ... Turnovers - 4th (16.2/game) ... Field-Goal Pct. - 8th (.387) ... Three-Point Field-Goal Pct. - 7th (.320) ... Free-Throw Pct. - 5th (.702)

Relevant Individual Statistics:
Brooke LeMar - Points: 1st (18.2/game), Assists: 3rd (4.3/game), FT Pct.: 2nd (.857), Steals: 8th (1.4/game) ... Marena Whittle - Rebounds: 4th (7.4/game), Defensive Rebounds: 3rd (5.8/game), Blocks: 6th (1.1/game) ... Kahla Becken - Steals: 5th (1.6/game) ... Holly Johnson - Defensive Rebounds: 6th (4.9/game), Rebounds: 5th (7.0/game), Offensive Rebounds: 10th (2.1/game) ... Emily Spier - Blocks: 8th (0.8/game) ... Liz Keena - Offensive Rebounds: 6th (2.2/game)

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.
        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.

NDSU Women's Basketball to Appear on Midco Sports Network Twice During Regular Season
        The Bison will 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 against league rival South Dakota State and the road contest at South Dakota on Jan. 15 will be broadcast.

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.

Looking Ahead
        The Bison return to action on Sunday, Jan. 4, at 1 p.m. against Summit League rival South Dakota State (9-4) at Scheels Arena. The game will be televised on MidcoSN, ESPN3 and ESPN Full Court.