THIS WEEK
The North Dakota State (13-6, 7-2 Summit) women’s basketball team finishes up its road swing at North Dakota (11-8, 4-5 Summit) on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 1:00 p.m. at Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
GAME COVERAGE
Radio: Andy Rieckhoff (play-by-play) will be on the call on Bison 1660.
Watch: The contest will be available on Midco Sports and Midco Sports Plus for subscribers.
GoBison.com: Live statistics, audio and video links are available on GoBison.com.
BISON QUICK HITS
- NDSU begins the week in second place in the Summit League and is 7-3 over its last 10 games.
- The Bison most recently picked up a 75-66 win over Kansas City behind a career-high 23 points from Elle Evans.
- NDSU has won its last eight straight games against North Dakota dating back to the 2019-20 season.
- North Dakota enters the week with an 11-8 (4-5 Summit) overall record and has lost its last two games.
- The Fighting Hawks are 9-0 at Betty Engelstad Sioux Center this season and are one of two teams in the Summit League with an unbeaten home mark. NDSU also boasts an 8-0 record at home this season.
- NDSU leads the Summit League in three-point percentage defense limiting opponents to 28.3 percent behind the arc.
- Elle Evans has reached double figures in scoring in 15 games this season, including a career-high 23 points at Kansas City.
- Emily Behnke ranks second in the Summit League with a career-high 25 blocks.
- Heaven Hamling has drained a team-high 44 three-pointers this season. She has totaled 168 triples over three seasons and ranks fourth all-time in NDSU history.
LAST TIME OUT
NDSU outscored Kansas City, 18-10, in the fourth quarter to earn a 75-66 win last Saturday. Elle Evans logged her second 20-point game of the season with a career-high 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field. She also added eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and one block to her stat line over 38 minutes of work. Emily Behnke contributed her third double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Abbie Draper tallied nine points off the bench.
THE SERIES VS. NORTH DAKOTA
Under fourth-year head coach Jory Collins, NDSU is 8-0 against North Dakota and have won the last eight meetings in the series that dates back to 1967. UND holds the slight edge in the all-time series, 48-46.
In their most recent meeting earlier this season, NDSU outscored UND, 28-17, in the third quarter to help secure a 81-76 win at Scheels Center. Heaven Hamling led the way with a game-high 28 points and connected on a career-high 14 free throws on 15 attempts. Taylor Brown also contributed 15 points with eight rebounds.
CLOSING IN ON 250 CAREER WINS
Head coach Jory Collins is closing in on his 250th career win and has currently amassed a 249-110 overall career record spanning 12 seasons. He notched a 199-58 mark during eight seasons at Emporia State. Collins has posted a 50-52 mark at NDSU over his first four seasons and earned his 50th win at Kansas City last week. His 50 wins at NDSU rank third all-time in Bison history behind Amy Ruley (671 wins) and Carolyn DeHoff (72 wins).
LOOKING AT SUMMIT LEAGUE PLAY
The Bison are 7-2 in Summit League play this season. NDSU is averaging 73.7 points per game and limiting opponents to 68.6. Heaven Hamling (15.0), Elle Evans (12.7) and Taylor Brown (10.7) are all averaging double digits in scoring in conference play.
TOUGH DEFENSE
NDSU is limiting opponents to 65.9 points per game this season, which ranks second in the Summit League. The Bison have held eight opponents this season to 65 points or less, including a season-low 43 points against Denver.
COMFORTABLE BEHIND THE ARC
The Bison drained a season-high 14 triples on 31 attempts with six different players posting at least one in the win over Omaha. That total ranks tied for the sixth-most in a single-game in NDSU history and was the third time this season the Bison have notched 10 or more triples.
BALL MOVEMENT
The Bison have been moving the ball around the floor averaging 14.4 assists per game this season, which ranks second in the Summit League. Heaven Hamling has handed out a team-best 72 assists, while Abby Schulte has distributed a career-high 64.
NDSU handed out a season-high 20 assists in the win over Western Illinois with Schulte leading the way with a game-high eight. It marked the most assists in a single-game since the Bison passed out 21 against Waldorf on Dec. 22, 2019.
LOCKED IN AT THE LINE
NDSU buried a season-high 33 free throws in the win over North Dakota with seven different players contributing at least one. Heaven Hamling led the way connecting on a career-high 14 free throws on 15 attempts, which is tied for the third-most in a single-game in NDSU history.
HEAVY WORKLOAD
Heaven Hamling and Elle Evans have both started all 19 games this season and averaging over 30 minutes per game. Evans is averaging 31.4 minutes, while Hamling is logging a team-high 32.5 minutes per game. Over three seasons at NDSU, Hamling is averaging 32.4 minutes per contest, which ranks fourth all-time in Bison history.
HAMLING FROM DEEP
Heaven Hamling has established herself as one of the best three-point shooters in the Summit League and currently ranks in the top five in three-pointers per game (3rd, 2.32), three-pointers (3rd, 44) and three-point percentage (4th, 32.1).
NOT PLAYING LIKE A FRESHMAN
Elle Evans is off to a fast start in her freshman season starting all 19 games and is averaging 12.6 points per game. That total ranks 11th in the Summit League and leads all freshmen.
Evans has reached the 20-point scoring plateau in two of the last three games, including a career-high 23 points in the win over Kansas City. The Edwardsville, Ill., native has reached double digits in scoring 15 of 19 games this season.
BEHNKE SURGING
After not starting a game in each of her first two seasons at NDSU, Emily Behnke has started 17 games this season and has hauled in a team-high and career-best 129 rebounds. The Two Rivers, Wis., native has also notched a career-high 25 blocks this season, which ranks second in the Summit League.
BROWN FITS RIGHT IN
In her first season at NDSU, Taylor Brown has fit right in starting all 19 games. The Lakeville, Minn., native is averaging 9.6 points per game and has reached double digits in scoring in eight games. Brown notched her first double-double of the season with a game-high 16 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Minnesota.
CONTRIBUTING OFF THE BENCH
Abbie Draper and Abby Graham have both come off the bench in all 19 games this season. Graham is averaging 6.6 points per game and notched a season-high 22 points in the win over Denver. Draper has contributed 5.3 points with 2.5 rebounds per game.
IN THE ROTATION
Kristina Ekofo Yomane has provided a boost off the bench contributing at least five points in seven games this season. She has logged at least 10 minutes of action in five of the last seven games for the Bison and made her first career start in the win over Denver.
1,000 CAREER POINTS FOR NO. 11
Heaven Hamling has surpassed the 1,000 career points milestone with 1,186. She started her career at Stephen F. Austin State for one season in 2018-19 and netted 174 points. Hamling has totaled 1,012 points over the last three seasons at NDSU.
WHO’S BACK THIS YEAR?
The Bison return six letterwinnners from last season, including three starters: Heaven Hamling, Abby Schulte and Katie Hildebrandt.
NDSU GRAD
Heaven Hamling graduated in December with her degree in construction management and a minor in business administration. She will begin graduate school starting in January.
WELCOME TO THE SQUAD
The roster features eight newcomers this season: Taylor Brown, Kristina Ekofo Yomane, Abbie Draper, Elle Evans, Marwa Bedziri, Abby Graham, Leah Mackenzie and Georgia Baldwin.
NEW, BUT PLENTY OF EXPERIENCE
Three of the eight newcomers on the roster this season have played at least 10 NCAA games in their careers. Taylor Brown appeared in 95 games over four seasons at American and Abbie Draper played in 26 games with 15 starts during her freshman season at Bradley last year. Georgia Baldwin also appeared in 11 games at Eastern Kentucky over the last two seasons.
NEW LOOK COACHING STAFF
The NDSU coaching staff has a new look this season with addition of assistant coaches Jaime Adams and Michaela Crall. Adams is back for her second stint with the program after spending four seasons from 2008-12 as an assistant coach. She also played at NDSU from 1997-01 and was inducted to the Bison Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019.
Crall comes to NDSU after spending last season at Dubuque as an assistant coach. She also played for Wisconsin for three seasons from 2013-16 before starting her career in coaching as an undergraduate coach. Emily Dietz, who played at NDSU from 2017-22 and is the all-time leader games played, returns as a graduate manager this season.
STARTING A NEW 3-POINT STREAK
NDSU shot 1-of-9 from three at Kansas State last season, which ended a streak of 56 straight games that the Bison have netted at least two triples. The Bison have bounced back and have connected at least two triples in each of their last 41 games.
NDSU has a recent history of assembling lengthy three-point streaks. The Bison went 0-of-14 from three-point range against Valparaiso in 2019-20, ending a streak of 113 straight games with at least two 3-pointers.
PRESEASON ALL-SUMMIT LEAGUE FIRST TEAM
Heaven Hamling was selected to the Preseason All-Summit League First Team. She started all 29 games last season and logged a team-high 34.4 minutes per contest. Hamling ranked ninth in the Summit League with a team-best 14.3 points per game and reached double digits in scoring in 24 of 29 games. The Grand Rapids, Minn., native led the conference in three-point field goals per game with 2.31 and three-point field goal percentage shooting 39.0 percent.
SUMMIT LEAGUE PRESEASON POLL
NDSU was picked to finish fifth in the Summit League Preseason Poll. South Dakota State garnered 36 first place votes to take the top spot, while South Dakota picked up four first place votes in second place. Oral Roberts closed out the top three in third place.
BISON IN GREECE
Over the span of eight days, the Bison had the opportunity to practice, play two games and learn about the culture in Greece during a trip in August. NDSU spent the first four days in Athens before concluding the trip in Glyfada.
LOOKING AHEAD
NDSU will return to home to face South Dakota on Thursday, Feb. 2. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. at Scheels Center.
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