THIS WEEK
The North Dakota State (16-10, 10-6 Summit) women’s basketball team travels to St. Thomas (11-15, 6-10 Summit) on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. The Bison will finish regular season action at Western Illinois (10-17, 5-11 Summit) on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
GAME COVERAGE
Radio: Andy Rieckhoff (play-by-play) will be on the call for both games on Bison 1660.
Watch: The game at St. Thomas will be streamed on Tommies All-Access, while the contest at Western Illinois will be available on Fighting Leathernecks All-Access and ESPN3.
GoBison.com: Live statistics, audio and video links are available on GoBison.com.
BISON QUICK HITS
- NDSU has won each of its last two games and enters the final week of the regular season tied with North Dakota (17-9, 10-6 Summit) for second place in the Summit League.
- The Bison most recently rolled past Oral Roberts, 103-86.
- Heaven Hamling was named the TicketSmarter Summit League Peak Performer of the Week for the third time this season earlier this week.
- The Tommies enter the week on a three-game win streak and most recently edged Western Illinois, 71-57. St. Thomas is 2-5 at Schoenecker Arena against Summit League opponents this season.
- Western Illinois is 4-6 in its last 10 games and most recently fell short against St. Thomas, 71-57. The Leathernecks are 6-7 at home this season.
- NDSU ranks second in the Summit League in rebound margin (2.9) and offensive rebounds per game (12.7).
- Heaven Hamling has reached the 20-point scoring plateau in each of the last two games and ranks fourth in the Summit League averaging a career-best 16.4 points per game.
- Elle Evans has hit double figures in scoring in 22 of 26 games, including each of the last 10 games. She’s averaging 13.0 points per game, which ranks tied for ninth in the Summit League.
LAST TIME OUT
NDSU erupted for a season-high 103 points to earn a 103-86 victory on senior day at Scheels Center. Heaven Hamling led the way for NDSU with her 10th 20-point game this season with a game-high 29 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field. She also added a team-high six assists and grabbed five rebounds. Taylor Brown narrowly missed a double-double with a season-best 18 points and team-high nine rebounds. Elle Evans also hit double figures in scoring with 17 points to go along with five rebounds and a season-best five blocks.
PEAK PERFORMER OF THE WEEK
For the third time this season, Heaven Hamling has been named the TicketSmarter Summit League Peak Performer of the Week. She averaged a team-high 25.0 points per game to help the Bison to back-to-back wins over Kansas City and Oral Roberts. Hamling shot 62.1 percent (18-29) from the field and 50.0 percent (8-16) from behind the arc. The Grand Rapids, Minn., native also added a team-high 11 assists with six rebounds and four steals to her stat line.
CSC ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT TEAM
Heaven Hamling, Taylor Brown, Abby Schulte and Emily Behnke were selected to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team this week. All four boasted at least a 3.5 grade point average.
STACKIN’ WINS
With the win over Oral Roberts, NDSU earned its 16th win of the season, which is the most under head coach Jory Collins. It’s also the most wins the Bison have totaled in a single-season since 2009-10. Additionally, NDSU also hit the 10-win mark in Summit League play for the first time since 2009-10.
TOUGH DEFENSE
NDSU is limiting opponents to 69.5 points per game this season, which ranks fifth in the Summit League. The Bison have held nine opponents to 65 points or less, including a season-low 43 points against Denver.
HIGH SCORING HOME FINALE
NDSU netted a season-high 103 points in the 103-86 win over Oral Roberts last week, which was the most points in a single-game since it scored 105 against NJIT in 2017. The Bison shot 62.7 percent from the field and 52.4 percent from three.
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. The Bison have netted 10 or more triples in four games this season.
BALL MOVEMENT
The Bison have been moving the ball around the floor averaging 13.8 assists per game this season, which ranks tied for third in the Summit League. Heaven Hamling has handed out a team-best and career-high 98 assists, while Abby Schulte has distributed a career-high 82. NDSU handed out a season-high 23 assists in the win over Oral Roberts last week with eight different players contributing at least one.
HEAVY WORKLOAD
Heaven Hamling and Elle Evans are both averaging over 30 minutes per game. Evans is averaging 32.2 minutes, while Hamling is logging a team-high 33.3 minutes per game. Over three seasons at NDSU, Hamling is averaging 32.7 minutes per contest, which ranks fourth all-time in Bison history.
HEAVEN DOING HEAVEN THINGS
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 (2nd, 2.50), three-pointers (2nd, 65) and three-point percentage (4th, 34.8).
Hamling is averaging a team-best and career-high 16.4 points per game this season, which ranks fourth in the Summit League. She’s also positioned second in the conference in free throw percentage shooting 85.9 percent. Defensively, Hamling has been disrupting opposing offenses with a career-high 58 steals, which ranks second in the Summit League. She is also positioned second in the conference in steals per game with 2.23.
NOT PLAYING LIKE A FRESHMAN
Elle Evans is off to a fast start in her freshman season starting 25 of 26 games and is averaging 13.0 points per game. That total ranks tied for ninth in the Summit League with Denver freshman guard Emma Smith.
Evans has reached the 20-point scoring plateau twice this season, including a career-high 23 points in the win over Kansas City. The Edwardsville, Ill., native has reached double digits in scoring 22 of 26 games.
Evans has also been a force on the defensive side of the court with 37 total blocks, which ranks third in the Summit League and leads all freshmen. She totaled a season-high five blocks in the win over Oral Roberts last week and it marked the most blocks by a Bison player in a single-game since 2018.
BEHNKE SURGING
After not starting a game in each of her first three seasons at NDSU, Emily Behnke has started 24 games this season and has hauled in a team-high and career-best 173 rebounds. The Two Rivers, Wis., native has also notched a career-high 26 blocks this season, which ranks seventh in the Summit League.
BROWN FITS RIGHT IN
In her first season at NDSU, Taylor Brown has fit right in starting all 26 games. The Lakeville, Minn., native is averaging 9.4 points per game and has reached double digits in scoring in 10 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 26 games this season.
Graham is averaging 6.3 points per game and notched a season-high 22 points in the win over Denver, while Draper has contributed 4.8 points with 2.4 rebounds per game. Kristina Ekofo Yomane has also appeared in 25 games with two starts this season and posted a season-high 10 points with six rebounds at Denver.
250 CAREER WINS
Following the victory over South Dakota on Feb. 2, head coach Jory Collins earned his 250th career win. He has currently amassed a 252-114 overall record spanning 12 seasons. He notched a 199-58 mark during eight seasons at Emporia State. Collins has posted a 53-56 mark at NDSU over his first four seasons and earned his 50th win at Kansas City. His 51 wins at NDSU rank third all-time in Bison history behind Amy Ruley (671 wins) and Carolyn DeHoff (72 wins).
1,000 CAREER POINTS FOR NO. 11
Heaven Hamling has surpassed the 1,000 career points milestone with 1,324. She started her career at Stephen F. Austin State for one season in 2018-19 and netted 174 points. Hamling has totaled 1,150 points over the last three seasons at NDSU.
HISTORIC PERFORMANCE
Heaven Hamling posted a career-high 39 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the field and 7-of-12 shooting from three in the win over Nevada. The Grand Rapids, Minn., native also went 10-of-10 from the free throw line and added six rebounds, three steals and one assist to her stat line.
Her 39 points rank as the third-most all-time in a single-game at NDSU and marked her second career 30-point performance. Her 39 points are tied for 21st in the nation in a single-game this season.
HAMLING CHASES HISTORY
Heaven Hamling enters the 2022-23 season with the opportunity to leave her name in NDSU history. She’s positioned inside the top 10 in Bison history in scoring average (6th, 14.6), three-point field goals made (4th, 189), three-point field goal percentage (3rd, .382), free throw percentage (3rd, .872), defensive rebounding average (7th, 3.8) and minutes average (4th, 32.7).
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 48 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.
THIS IS OUR HOUSE
NDSU is 472-142 all-time at home dating back to 1977-78. NDSU finished the season with an 11-1 mark at Scheels Center this season after starting the season 9-0. It marks the most home wins since 2009-10.
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.
THE SERIES VS. ST. THOMAS
This will mark the fifth all-time meeting between NDSU and St. Thomas dating back to 1980 with the Bison leading the series, 3-1. Earlier this season, NDSU rolled past St. Thomas, 74-56. Heaven Hamling led the way with a game-high 17 points to go along with six assists, six rebounds and six steals.
THE SERIES VS. WESTERN ILLINOIS
This will mark the 33rd all-time meeting between NDSU and Western Illinois dating back to 2008 with the Leathernecks holding the slight edge, 19-13. Earlier this season, NDSU topped Western Illinois to open Summit League play, 84-60. Heaven Hamling paced the Bison with 13 points, six rebounds and two assists.
LOOKING AHEAD
NDSU will travel to the Summit League Tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D. on March 4-7.
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