Scene Setter
    The North Dakota State women's basketball team will play its third-straight road game on Thursday, as the Bison head to Bradley. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Renaissance Coliseum in Peoria, Ill. Keith Brake will have the call on Bison 1660 and 92.7 FM, while the game will be broadcast on ESPN3.com.

Bradley Series History
      Thursday night will be the first meeting between the Bison and the Braves. This is the third game this year against a team from the Missouri Valley Conference for the Bison (at Northern Iowa and Valparaiso). The Bison are 4-18 all-time against the MVC.

Collins Earns 200th Career Victory
    With NDSU's win over New Hampshire on Dec. 1, head coach Jory Collins earned his 200th career victory. In his ninth season overall as a head coach, Collins earned his first win on Nov. 13, 2010, as Emporia State beat Tulsa 68-64. His 100th career win came on March 7, 2015, as Emporia State beat Pittsburg State 67-53 in the MIAA Tournament Semifinals.

Bison Notes

• NDSU picked up the first win of the season on Sunday at New Hampshire, defeating the Wildcats 67-61.
• Sofija Zivaljevic had a career-high 28 points off the bench in the victory over New Hampshire. 
• Emily Dietz fell just short of her second-straight double-double, finishing with nine points and nine rebounds. 
• The Bison opened a Thanksgiving Weekend trip to the east coast at Northeastern, where the Bison dropped a 72-61 contest to the Huskies.
• Dietz had a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds against the Huskies.
• Wyoming used a 16-2 run late in the third and early in the fourth quarters to beat NDSU 66-57.
• Iowa State defeated NDSU 86-58 on Nov. 22. The game marked the first time a Big 12 school had played in Fargo.
• Freshman Ryan Cobbins became the first player in NDSU's NCAA Division I history to score in double figures in the first five games of her freshman career with 12 points against Iowa State.
• NDSU led at halftime against Creighton before falling 70-59. Dietz turned in her second double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
• The Bison dropped a 66-54 contest against Valparaiso on Nov. 15.
• NDSU went 0-for-14 from 3-point range against the Crusaders, snapping a streak of 113-straight games with at least two 3-pointers.
• NDSU dropped a 74-68 overtime game against Northern Illinois in the home opener.
• The overtime game was the first women's overtime game played at the Scheels Center and the first overtime game for the NDSU women since Jan. 14, 2016 against South Dakota.
• Dietz recorded her second career double-double with 21 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. 
• NDSU opened the season at Northern Iowa, falling 95-63. The Panthers are now 4-0 with wins over Missouri and Iowa.
• Three players scored in double digits for the Bison, led by 15 points from Michelle Gaislerova. It was the 40th career double digit scoring effort from Gaislerova. Cobbins added 12 points, while Zivaljevic had 10.
• Gaislerova moved into seventh in school history with her 127th career 3-pointer against the Panthers. 

Scouting Bradley

• The Braves are 6-1 on the year and have won five-straight games. The lone loss was a 77-57 setback at #24 Michigan on Nov. 10.
• NDSU will be the second Summit League opponent for the Braves this season, as they defeated Western Illinois in Macomb 84-49 on Nov. 20.
• Bradley leads the nation in defensive rebounds per game with 36.4, while ranking fifth in the nation in rebounding margin with a 13.9 advantage. With 49.6 rebounds per game, the Braves rank third in the nation.
• Chelsea Brackmann ranks ninth in the nation with 8.1 defensive rebounds per game. Brackmann also ranks 19th in the country with 10.9 rebounds per game and 28th with 76 boards on the year.
• Lasha Petree ranks 75th in the nation with 18 3-pointers, while ranking 72nd with 2.57 made per game.  

Last Time Out
    North Dakota State women's basketball head coach Jory Collins earned his 200th career win Sunday, as the Bison beat New Hampshire 67-61 Sunday afternoon at Lundholm Gymnasium. NDSU improved to 1-7 on the year, while the Wildcats dropped to 2-5.
    Sofija Zivaljevic had a career-high 28 points to lead all scorers, while she also grabbed five rebounds and dished out three assists. Emily Dietz had nine points and nine rebounds, finishing just shy of her second-straight double-double. Ryan Cobbins had eight points, two assists and a career-high six steals. Olivia Skibiel had seven rebounds, while Rylee Nudell had a career-high three steals. Cobbins, Cirkeline Rimdal and Nudell each had two assists. Ashley Storey led four New Hampshire players in double figures with 19 points.
    The Bison shot a season-high 47.9 percent (23-of-48) from the field, while going 5-of-19 (26.3%) from downtown. New Hampshire was 20-of-59 (33.9%) from the floor and 3-of-16 (18.8%) from 3-point range. The Wildcats were 18-of-21 (85.7%) from the free throw line, while NDSU was 16-of-22 (72.7%) from the charity stripe. New Hampshire had a 12-4 advantage in second chance points off 12 offensive rebounds. NDSU had a 20-11 advantage in fast break points and 47-6 advantage in bench points.
    With New Hampshire leading 9-8 in the first quarter, NDSU went on a 9-2 run to take a 17-11 lead. NDSU led 19-17 after the first quarter following a buzzer beater by the Wildcats. New Hampshire led 24-23 with 6:07 to play in the first half, NDSU went on a 13-1 run over a 4:50 span to close the half. The run gave NDSU a 36-25 lead at the break and the Bison would never trail again.

A New 3-Point Streak
    The Bison went 0-of-14 from 3-point range against Valparaiso on Nov. 15, ending a streak of 113-straight games with at least two 3-pointers. The last time NDSU didn't hit a 3-pointer in a game was Nov. 29, 2015 against Delaware. Since the game against Valparaiso, the Bison have hit at least five in each of the last five games, including a season-high nine against Iowa State.
 
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 was tabbed the preseason favorite with 20 first-place votes, while South Dakota State was picked second with 13 first-place votes. Denver, picked for third, received the remaining first place vote. 

MidcoSN to Televise 17 NDSU Women's Basketball Games in 2019-20
    Midco has announced that 17 NDSU women's basketball games during the 2019-20 season will be broadcast on the Midco Sports Network. All games will either be on MidcoSN or MidcsoSN2. In addition, all 17 Midco games, along with games at Northern Iowa and Bradley, will either be available on ESPN+ or ESPN3. 

Gaislerova Named to 2018-19 Google Cloud Academic All-District First Team
    Michelle Gaislerova was named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District Women's Basketball First Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) last season.
    Gaislerova has a 4.0 GPA and majors in Journalism. The award recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom. The Google Cloud Academic All-America® program separately recognizes basketball honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA. First-team Academic All-District® honorees advance to the Google Cloud Academic All-America® ballot.
     The Google Cloud Academic All-District® teams are divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. North Dakota State is in district six, which includes schools from Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Gaislerova was one of three selections from the Summit League, joining South Dakota's Allison Arens and Ciara Duffy.

Bison Sign Three on National Signing Day
    NDSU will add a pair of high school players, while also getting a junior college transfer, head coach Jory Collins announced on Wednesday, Nov. 14.
    Abigail Schulte, a 5-10 guard from Maple Grove, Minn., Kylie Strop, a 5-7 guard from River Falls, Wis. and Reneya Hopkins, a 5-7 junior college transfer from Redlands Community College have all signed during the first signing day for Collins.
    An all-conference junior college performer, Hopkins averaged 14.4 points, 5.3 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocks during her freshman year at RCC. An all-state selection as a junior, Schulte averaged 12.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists as a junior. Strop is the all-time leader in scoring and steals at River Falls High School, averaging 19.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 3.0 steals as a junior.

Scheels Sponsors Free Admission to Wisconsin Game
    The North Dakota State athletic department and Scheels have teamed up to offer Bison fans a free opportunity to watch the Bison women's basketball team on Sunday, Dec. 8 when NDSU takes on Wisconsin. Admission will be free to all fans with no ticket required. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at the Scheels Center.
    In addition, Scheels will also be giving away $1,500 in gift cards to those in attendance. Fans attending the game will be provided a scratch off ticket as they enter. There will be 11 winners - one $500 grand prize winner and 10 - $100 gift card winners.

Head Coach Jory Collins
    Jory Collins was named the head coach of the North Dakota State women's basketball program on April 29, 2019.
    Collins is the 11th head coach of the Bison. Collins just finished his first year as an assistant at the University of Kansas after spending eight seasons as the head coach at NCAA Division II Emporia State.
    This past season at Kansas, Collins primarily worked with the post players. He helped recruit the No. 2 class in the Big 12 after the early signing period in November.
    Collins spent 12 years at Emporia State, including the last eight as the head coach. He compiled a record of 199-56 with five straight Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association tournament titles (2013-17) and six straight trips to the NCAA Division II Sweet 16 (2012-17). In 2017, Emporia State finished the season ranked first in the NCAA Central Region for the third time in four years. 
    His 2015 team won the NCAA Division II Central Region championship, advancing to the Final Four with a 29-5 record. Collins has a 33-9 career postseason record in the MIAA and NCAA tournaments, while compiling a 15-8 overall record against teams ranked in the top 10 in the nation.
    Collins was named the KBCA Women's Basketball Four-Year Coach of the Year in 2015, while being named the NCAA Division II Region 7 Russell Athletic/WBCA Coach of the Year in 2014. The Hornets finished with 20 or more wins in seven of his eight seasons as a head coach.
    Off the floor, the Hornets finished with the top GPA (3.72) in NCAA Division II in 2017. The 2018 squad finished fourth in the nation with a 3.71 GPA.
    Prior to being the head coach at Emporia State, Collins spent four years as an assistant for the Hornets. Emporia State won back-to-back MIAA championships in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, the Hornets won the NCAA Division II national championship with a 30-5 record. Collins served as the primary recruiter that identified, evaluated, recruited and signed the class that won the national championship.
    Collins earned a bachelor's degree in education from Emporia State in 2002 and a master's degree in science in school leadership from Emporia State in 2006.

On The Horizon
    The Bison return home for the first of three-straight Sunday home games at the Scheels Center on Dec. 8 against Wisconsin. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.