NDSU Women Continue Road Trip to Oklahoma

Saturday, January 26

Tulsa, Okla.

2 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

Oral Roberts

Photo by: Carrie Snyder

NDSU Women Continue Road Trip to Oklahoma

1/25/2019 10:26:00 AM | Women's Basketball

North Dakota State at Oral Roberts
Saturday, Jan. 26 | 2 p.m. (Central) | Tulsa, Okla. (Mabee Center)
Radio: Bison 1660 / 92.7 FM
TV: ORUAthletics.com
Live Stats: ORUAthletics.com

Full NDSU Game Notes (PDF)

NDSU WBB on Twitter: @NDSUwbb

Scene Setter
The North Dakota State (6-13, 3-4 Summit) women's basketball team continues its road trip on Saturday, Jan. 26, as the Bison head to Oklahoma to face Oral Roberts (10-10, 3-4 Summit).

Oral Roberts Series History
The Golden Eagles own a 15-5 advantage in the all-time series. The first game was played on Nov. 11, 2006 in Tulsa, an 82-67 Oral Roberts victory. The Golden Eagles have won eight-straight in the series, with the last Bison win coming on Jan. 2, 2015, a 77-64 win in the Scheels Center. The last NDSU win in Tulsa was Feb. 28, 2009, a 64-55 victory.

Bison Notes

North Dakota State led South Dakota State 6-4 early in the game before the Jackrabbits went on a 22-2 run to take the lead for good in SDSU's 86-33 victory.
For the 15th time this season, sophomore Michelle Gaislerova scored in double digits to lead the Bison in scoring in a 69-57 win over North Dakota on Sunday. It was the 32nd career double digit scoring game of Gaislerova's career. She has led NDSU in scoring 11 times this season and 19 times in the last two years.
The victory over North Dakota snapped an eight-game losing streak against the Fighting Hawks dating back to 2004. It was the first win over North Dakota in the Division I era.
West Fargo native Emily Dietz had only played three minutes against the Fighting Hawks as a freshman last year. Dietz finished with 16 points and seven rebounds in 28 minutes.
Entering the game at Denver, the Pioneers led the nation in 3-pointers made. Denver finished the game with five makes from downtown, the second fewest they have hit in a game this season.
North Dakota State scored the final eight points of the game against Western Illinois for a 68-60 victory over the Leathernecks. The win snapped a nine-game losing streak against the Leathernecks.
Gaislerova turned in the second best scoring performance of her career against the Leathernecks with 29 points, one shy of her career-high against Northern Illinois earlier this season. She is the first player since Marena Whittle and Taylor Thunstedt to have two games of 29 or more points in a season. Both Whittle and Thunstedt each had two games with over 30 points during the 2015-16 season.

Scouting Oral Roberts

The Golden Eagles have lost three-straight games heading into the game on Saturday. Oral Roberts shares a pair of victories with the Bison, as they both have wins over Western Illinois and Purdue Fort Wayne.
Oral Roberts ranks fifth in the nation in 3-pointers made with 189, while also ranking sixth in most 3-point attempts with 523.
Lakota Beatty ranks ninth in the nation with 62 3-pointers made, while also ranking 36th in attempts with 141. She also ranks 26th with 3.1 3-pointers per game and 25th in percentage at 44 percent.
Keni Jo Lippe is making a living at the free throw line. She ranks 25th in the country in free throws made (82), 27th in percentage (87.2) and 62nd in attempts (94).

Last Time Out
South Dakota State (14-6, 6-1 Summit) outscored the North Dakota State (6-13, 3-4 Summit) 45-10 over the second and third quarters Wednesday night in an 86-33 victory at Frost Arena.
The Bison held an early 6-4 lead on baskets by Marina Fernandez, Emily Dietz and Tyrah Spencer. Tagyn Larson hit a layup with 7:28 to play in the first quarter, as the Jackrabbits answered with a 22-2 run until Danneka Voegeli hit a layup with :14 left in the quarter. The Jackrabbits led 26-8 after the first frame.
South Dakota State closed the first half on a 13-2 run over a 4:48 span, taking a 43-14 lead at halftime.
Following a layup by Fernandez to start the second half, the Jackrabbits went on a 12-0 run to push the lead to 55-16 with 6:04 left in the quarter. SDSU ended the third quarter on a 14-0 run over the last 3:53, taking a 71-20 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Bison closed the game on a 10-2 run over the final 5:03. A 3-pointer by Sofija Zivaljevic gave NDSU the final points of the game.
Fernandez led the Bison with nine points, while Voegeli and Dietz had six apiece. Voegeli led NDSU with six rebounds, while Rylee Nudell finished with three. Zivaljevic, Fernandez and Nudell each had two assists, while Fernandez added two steals.
NDSU was 14-of-46 (30.4%) from the field and 3-of-20 (15%) from 3-point range. The Jackrabbits were 35-of-61 (57.4%) from the floor and 10-of-23 (43.5%) from downtown. NDSU was perfect in both attempts at the free throw line, while SDSU was 6-of-9 at the charity stripe. SDSU had advantages in points in the paint (44-20), points off turnovers (24-9), second chance points (13-0) and fastbreak points (12-0).

101 and Counting
North Dakota State has made at least two 3-pointers in 101-straight games dating back to a loss against Delaware on Nov. 29, 2015. The Bison are averaging 5.5 3-pointers per game this year and have hit at least seven in eight games.

Mixing It Up
The Bison have played 10 different players in 18 games, with eight of them playing at least 216 minutes. The Bison have tallied 68 different lineups with the 10 players. NDSU has used 14 different lineups for at least 10 minutes. The combination of Rylee Nudell, Michelle Gaislerova, Tyrah Spencer, Marina Fernandez and Emily Dietz have the highest plus rating in 197:48 of playing together. The group has outscored opponents 310-300. Spencer has the highest plus rating of the year in the win over Purdue Fort Wayne, as the Bison were +28 in her 34:46 of action in the victory.

Making Them When They Matter
The Bison are shooting 67.3 percent (177-of-263) at the free throw line this year, but they are hitting them when it matters. NDSU is 41-of-53 (77.4%) at the charity stripe in the final three minutes of games this season. Sofija Zivaljevic (11) and Rylee Nudell (three) are perfect in the final three minutes at the line this year. Michelle Gaislerova is shooting 8-of-11 (72.7%) in the final three minutes, while Cirkeline Rimdal is 7-of-8 (87.5%).

2018-19 NDSU Women's Basketball Captains Announced
Rylee Nudell, Tyrah Spencer and Marina Fernandez have been voted team captains for the Bison for the upcoming 2018-19 season. This is the second year that Spencer has been voted a captain.

Bison Sign Two on National Signing Day
NDSU announced the signing of high school standouts, Nicole Scales and Olivia Skibiel, to a National Letter of Intent to attend NDSU and play basketball starting in the fall of 2019. Scales is a 5-9 guard from Park Ridge, Ill., while Skibiel is a 6-1 guard/forward from Snohomish, Wash. In 31 games last season, Scales averaged a team-best 12.4 points per game. She also owns the Maine South single-season record for 3-pointers in a season with 80 and highest free throw percentage (47-of-59 – 80%).Skibiel averaged 18.9 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game as a junior. She was 69-of-80 (86%) at the free throw line during junior season.

NDSU Women's Basketball Picked Seventh In Summit League Preseason Poll
The North Dakota State Bison women's basketball team was voted seventh in the Summit League preseason poll released by the league office. South Dakota State was tabbed the preseason favorite with 24 first-place votes, while South Dakota was picked second with the remaining nine first-place votes. The Summit League finished 12th out of 32 conferences in RPI last season.

MidcoSN to Televise Every NDSU Women's Basketball Home Game in 2018-19
Midco has announced that all 14 NDSU home games during the 2018-19 season will be broadcast live on Midco Sports Network. All games will either be on MidcoSN or MidcoSN2. In addition, all home games will be covered by ESPN+ or ESPN3. Road games at Omaha (Jan. 6), South Dakota State (Jan. 23), North Dakota (Feb. 7) and South Dakota (Feb. 28) will also be on the Midco Sports Network.

Last Time Against Oral Roberts
The North Dakota State University women's basketball fell to the Oral Roberts University Golden Eagles, 64-57, Thursday, Feb. 8, inside the Scheels Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex.
Freshman Michelle Gaislerova scored 11 points to lead the Bison (8-16, 1-9 Summit League), while sophomore Reilly Jacobson pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds and netted eight points. Rylee Nudell, Sarah Jacobson and Tyrah Spencer also reached double figures with 10 points each.
NDSU shot 41 percent from the field and 35 percent from 3-point range, and posted a 40-31 advantage in rebounding, but turned the ball over 18 times.
The Bison led 33-32 going into halftime, but were outscored by Oral Roberts in the third quarter, 11-7.
After trailing by as much as 13 points late in the fourth quarter, NDSU was able to trim the deficit down to six in the final minute of the frame, but couldn't get any closer.
Faith Ihim paced the Golden Eagles (15-9, 6-4 Summit League) with a game-high 17 points and 14 boards.
ORU shot 38 percent from the floor and 29 percent from three-point range, but converted 15-of-19 free throws, while NDSU only made six foul shots on eight attempts.

On the Horizon
The Bison take a break from Summit League play for a home game against Waldorf on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at the Scheels Center. NDSU returns to conference play on Sunday, Feb. 3 at Western Illinois.