NDSU Women Face Oral Roberts in Annual Pink Game

Wednesday, February 13

Fargo, N.D.

7 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

Oral Roberts

Photo by: Carrie Snyder

NDSU Women Face Oral Roberts in Annual Pink Game

2/12/2019 7:50:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Oral Roberts at North Dakota State
Wednesday, Feb. 13| 7 p.m. (Central) | Fargo, N.D. (Scheels Center)
Radio: Bison 1660 / 92.7 FM
TV: MidcoSN / ESPN3
Live Stats: BisonStats.com

Full NDSU Game Notes (PDF)

NDSU WBB on Twitter: @NDSUwbb

Scene Setter
The North Dakota State (6-17, 3-8 Summit) women's basketball team continues a home stand on Wednesday, as the Bison host Oral Roberts (13-12, 6-6 Summit). The game is the annual Pink Game, as the Bison will be sporting new pink uniforms in support of Breast Cancer Awareness.

Oral Roberts Series History
The Golden Eagles own a 16-5 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 nine-straight in the series, with the last Bison win coming on Jan. 2, 2015, a 77-64 win in the Scheels Center. The Golden Eagles defeated NDSU 101-72 on Jan. 26 in Tulsa.

Bison Notes

Emily Dietz scored a career-high 26 points against Denver on Saturday, as the Pioneers beat NDSU 87-67. Denver held a 29-13 advantage in the second quarter.
Dietz led the Bison in scoring against North Dakota on Thursday night, as her 13 points gave her double digit scoring numbers for the 10th time this season.
North Dakota State was a perfect 12-of-12 at the free throw line against Western Illinois. It was the most made free throws without a miss in school history and the second time the Bison have been perfect at the line with over 10 attempts in the game in school history.
Michelle Gaislerova scored 21 points at Western Illinois, marking the fifth time this season that Gaislerova has scored 20 or more points. She surpassed 600 points for her career against Western Illinois.
Senior Marina Fernandez notched her first career double-double at Western Illinois, pulling down a career-high 11 rebounds to go with her 13 points.
The Bison were scheduled to play Waldorf University in the final non-conference game of the year last Wednesday, but due to brutal cold and travel conditions, the game was canceled.
North Dakota State hit a season-high 11 3-pointers against Oral Roberts. The Golden Eagles countered with 18 long balls, tied for the second most in Summit League history, in the 101-72 win by Oral Roberts.
Gaislerova scored 18 points against Oral Roberts, as she hit the double digit mark for the 16th time this season and 33rd time in her career.
Rylee Nudell scored a career-high 22 points against the Golden Eagles, as she went over 600 points for her career.
The Bison 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.

Scouting Oral Roberts

The Golden Eagles are 13-12 overall and 6-6 in the Summit League. Oral Roberts has won three of its last five games, with the losses coming to South Dakota State (74-65) and South Dakota (75-64).
Lakota Beatty is one of the top 3-point shooters in the country regardless of division. For her career, she is shooting 42.1 percent from downtown. That ranks the seventh best among active NCAA Division I players for a career and the 18th best among all NCAA divisions.
Oral Roberts led for 34 minutes of the game against South Dakota last week. The Coyotes, now ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll, rallied for the 75-64 victory. The Golden Eagles held a 22-12 lead after the first quarter thanks to a 14-0 run.
The Golden Eagles have hit double-digit 3-pointers in 13 games so far this season, including the season-high 18 against North Dakota State the last time the two teams played. Since that game, Oral Roberts is 43-of-108 (39.8%) from downtown.

Summit League Food Fight
NDSU's Student-Athlete Advisory Council will be collecting non-perishable food and monetary donations Feb. 14-20 for this year's Summit League "Food Fight," an annual competition among Summit League member schools. All donations will benefit the Fargo-Moorhead Emergency Food Pantry.
NDSU SAAC representatives will be accepting donations inside the north and south entrances of the Sanford Health Athletic Complex at each of these upcoming events:
Feb. 14 men's basketball vs. Oral Roberts, 7 p.m.
Feb. 15 wrestling vs. South Dakota State, 7 p.m.
Feb. 16 women's basketball vs. South Dakota State, 1 p.m.
Feb. 16 men's basketball vs. South Dakota State, 4 p.m.
The school that raises the most food (in pounds) at the end of two one-week periods will be named the winner. NDSU collected the equivalent of 5,000 pounds of food in the fall and is aiming for 10,000 pounds by the end of this collection week.
Fans may donate funds online to @NDSU-SAAC using the Venmo mobile app available in the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Last Time Out
   Emily Dietz scored a career-high 26 points, but it wasn't enough as Denver (13-11, 6-5 Summit) beat the North Dakota State (6-17, 3-7 Summit) women's basketball team 87-67 Saturday afternoon at the Scheels Center.
   The Bison held an early 4-3 lead on baskets by Dietz and Rylee Nudell. A jumper by Jasmine Jeffcoat in the lane with 7:21 left in the first quarter started a 9-2 Pioneer run that gave Denver the lead for good. The Pioneers held an 18-11 lead after the first quarter and opened the second quarter on a 12-0 run, pushing the lead to 30-11 with 6:18 left in the first half. Denver pushed the lead to 25 late in the half, but a layup by Tyrah Spencer with :59 left in the half cut the lead to 47-24 at the break.
   Denver took its largest lead of the game early in the second half, as a 9-3 run to start the third quarter gave Denver a 56-27 lead with 5:43 to play in the quarter. Four free throws by Sofija Zivaljevic in the final minute of the third quarter cut the lead to 63-39 going into the final frame.
   NDSU closed the game on a 12-3 run in the final 2:30, leaving Denver with the 87-67 victory.
   Dietz, playing the game with a facemask after taking an elbow to the nose on Thursday night, finished with a career-high 26 points to lead all scorers. Zivaljevic joined her in double figures with 11 points, while Nudell and Michelle Gaislerova each had seven points. Samantha Romanowski led the Pioneers with 17 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds. Marina Fernandez led the Bison with seven rebounds, while Dietz grabbed five. Nudell and Cirkeline Rimdal each had three assists, tying a career-high for Rimdal. Spencer finished with a game-high three steals.
   NDSU was 20-of-46 (43.5%) from the floor and 4-of-16 from 3-point range. Denver was 32-of-60 (53.3%) from the field and 10-of-19 (52.6%) from downtown. The Bison were 23-of-27 (85.2%) at the free throw line, while Denver was 13-of-21 (61.9%) at the charity stripe. The Pioneers had advantages in points off turnovers (17-8), second chance points (19-5) and bench points (31-20).

105 and Counting
   North Dakota State has made at least two 3-pointers in 105-straight games dating back to a loss against Delaware on Nov. 29, 2015. The Bison are averaging 5.7 3-pointers per game this year and have hit at least seven in 10 games.

Mixing It Up
   The Bison have eight players that have played at least 300 minutes this year, with four of them having played at least 650 minutes. NDSU has used 24 different lineups for at least 10 minutes. Two Bison lineups have outscored their opponents by 16 points this year, as Michelle Gaislerova, Tyrah Spencer, Danneka Voegeli, Cirkeline Rimdal and Sofija Zivaljevic have outscored opponents 35-19 in 19:56 of action, while Rylee Nudell, Gaislerova, Tyrah Spencer, Marina Fernandez and Zivaljevic have outscored opponents 34-18 in 12:29 on the floor together. 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.

Perfect at Home in January
   For the second-straight year, the Bison finished a month with a perfect home record at the Scheels Center. This year, the Bison were 2-0 in games played at home in January. North Dakota State earned wins over Western Illinois (68-60) on Jan. 11 and North Dakota (69-57) on Jan. 20. The Bison were scheduled to play Waldorf University on Jan. 30, but weather and travel conditions forced that game to be canceled. The Bison were also perfect in November of 2017, finishing that month with a 4-0 record at home to start the season.

The Rare Cancelation
   With the game against Waldorf University canceled due to weather and travel conditions, it marked the third time since NDSU moved to NCAA Division I that a game had been canceled. The previous two times were against Jamestown in December 2008 and Dakota State in December 2010.

Making Them When They Matter
   The Bison are shooting 68.7 percent (246-of-358) at the free throw line this year, but they are hitting them when it matters. NDSU is 58-of-75 (77.3%) at the charity stripe in the final three minutes of games this season. Sofija Zivaljevic has been to the line 16 times in the final three minutes, hitting 15 of them (93.8%).

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 Robert
   Oral Roberts (11-10, 4-4 Summit) hit the second most 3-pointers in Summit League history on Saturday, as the Golden Eagles beat the North Dakota State (6-14, 3-5 Summit) women's basketball team 101-72 at the Mabee Center.
   The Bison held an 8-6 lead on the Golden Eagles late in the first quarter on a 3-pointer by Michelle Gaislerova. Oral Roberts closed the quarter on a 9-2 run, taking a 15-10 lead after the first quarter.
   Oral Roberts would push the lead to eight in the second quarter, but the Bison battled back to tie the game on a 3-pointer by Sofija Zivaljevic with 4:43 to play in the half. The Bison scored 12 of the final 19 points in the half, as a jumper by Zivaljevic as time expired tied the game at 38-38 at the half.
   Gaislerova opened the second half with a 3-pointer, but the Golden Eagles answered with a 25-7 run over a 5:27 span to push the lead to double digits for the remainder of the game. A free throw to close the quarter gave Oral Roberts a 73-53 lead after the third quarter, as the Golden Eagles were 12-of-15 from the field in the third quarter, including hitting all seven 3-point attempts.
   Oral Roberts used an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter to put the game away. The Golden Eagles were 5-of-10 from 3-point range in the fourth quarter.
   Rylee Nudell led the Bison with a career-high 22 points. Gaislerova and Zivaljevic joined her in double figures with 18 and 11 points apiece, tying a career-high for Zivaljevic. KeniJo Lippe and Maya Mayberry scored 34 and 31 points respectively for the Golden Eagles. Emily Dietz led the Bison with five rebounds, while Danneka Voegeli added four boards off the bench. Tyrah Spencer tied a season-high with four assists, while Cirkeline Rimdal tied a career-high with three assists.
   NDSU was 22-of-47 (46.8%) from the floor and 11-of-20 (55%) from 3-point range, tied for the sixth best percentage in school history. Oral Roberts was 35-of-59 (59.3%) from the field and 18-of-33 (54.5%) from 3-point range, tied for the second most in Summit League history. The Bison were 17-of-31 (54.8%) from the free throw line, while Oral Roberts was 13-of-16 (81.3%) at the charity stripe. Oral Roberts held advantages in points in the paint (34-16), second chance points (14-7) and fastbreak points (12-0).

Down the Stretch
   The highest scoring quarter so far this year for the Bison has been the fourth quarter, where NDSU has put up 371 points. The Bison are averaging 16.1 points in the fourth quarter, while shooting 40.6 percent from the field and 31.1 percent from 3-point range. Michelle Gaislerova is averaging 3.9 points in the fourth quarter, while Sofija Zivaljevic is averaging 3.8. Rylee Nudell is shooting 61.9 percent (26-of-42) from the field, while Gaislerova is 12-of-33 (36.4%) from 3-point range.

Norman Joins the Squad
   Former NDSU Soccer player Hanna Norman has joined the women's basketball team. Norman was a two-time All-Summit League selection on the pitch, earning first team honors this past fall. She was also named to the all-freshman team during her rookie campaign. She appeared in 72 games for the Bison, notching a start in 69 of them including every match the last two years. She scored nine goals and had an assist, finishing with five game-winning goals. Coming out of high school, Norman was a Top Drawer Soccer four-star recruit and ranked No. 21 in the Midwest and was the No. 3-ranked defender in the region. On the basketball court in high school, she was a three-time all-conference selection and scored over 1,000 points in her career at Hastings (Minn.) High School.

Last Five Games
   In the last five games, Michelle Gaislerova is averaging 12.4 points per game. Emily Dietz (10.6) and Rylee Nudell (10.0) join Gaislerova in double figure average over the last five games. Marina Fernandez is averaging 6.2 rebounds per game in the stretch. Gaislerova is 12-of-31 from 3-point range, while Nudell is 8-of-13 (61.5%) from downtown. Danneka Voegeli is 8-of-13 (61.5%) from the field in the last five games.

On the Horizon
   The Bison will host South Dakota State on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Scheels Center. The game is part of a doubleheader with the men, as NDSU faces SDSU at 4 p.m.