Bison Women Travel to No. 20 South Dakota State

North Dakota State University (8-8, 6-2 Summit) is scheduled to play 20th-ranked South Dakota State University (18-2, 7-1 Summit) at 7:05 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, in Frost Arena (6,500) at Brookings, S.D. ... The Jackrabbits have reeled off four straight wins ... SDSU is 9-0 at home in 2008-09 (last loss, Creighton in first round of 2008 WNIT), and have won 29 straight regular season games (last loss to Marquette on Dec. 31, 2006) in Frost Arena and 13 straight Summit League home games ... NDSU is 2-4 on the road. The Series This will be the 67th meeting with South Dakota State ... The Bison lead the series 37-29 ... SDSU swept the season series last year, winning 71-55 in Fargo on Jan. 26, 2008, and 81-61 in Brookings on Feb. 23, 2008 ... The Jackrabbits have won six in a row in the series ... The last NDSU win (64-63) against SDSU came on Feb. 26, 2005 ... The last Bison win in Brookings (78-68) came on Jan. 22, 2005. NDSU-SDSU Games Jan. 23-24 To Be Televised South Dakota State University Athletics and Sioux Falls-based KSFY Television have reached an agreement to broadcast both the Jackrabbit men's and women's basketball home games against Summit League rival North Dakota State ... The men's game will be played on Friday, Jan. 23, while the women's game is slated to be played the next night (Saturday, Jan. 24) ... Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m. each night at Frost Arena, with live coverage beginning at 7 p.m. ... The broadcasts also will be carried on KXJB-TV (CBS, Channel 4, Fargo). Bison On Radio WDAY 970 AM of Fargo is the flagship station of the Bison Radio Network ... Stations on the Bison Radio Network for the basketball season include WDAY-AM 970 (Fargo), KQLX-FM 106.1 (Lisbon/select games), ESPN AM 710 /KFYR-AM 550 (Bismarck/select games) and KPOK-AM 1340 (Bowman) ... Scott Miller, WDAY 970 AM sports director, will call the play-by-play, and Jeremy Jorgenson, NDSU director of athletic broadcasting, will provide the color analysis ... Miller hosts Bison Feedback featuring women's basketball coach Carolyn DeHoff and men's basketball coach Saul Phillips on Tuesdays throughout the season ... Game audio and Bison Feedback are free and available on www.GoBison.com. 96.3 KNDS FM of Fargo ... Dan "Pinto" Gunderson describes the action, while Adam Sprengeler is the color analyst ... Pregame begins 10 minutes before tip-off Saturday ... The game is also on www.kndsradio.com. Bison Coaches Corner Bison Coaches Corner featuring women's basketball coach Carolyn DeHoff and men's basketball coach Saul Phillips can be seen weekly during The Summit League season exclusively on GoBison.com ... The show feature games footage and analysis from both Phillips and DeHoff ... The NDSU men's basketball show will be posted Tuesday afternoons (once on Thursday, Feb. 19 due to team travel), while the Bison women's basketball show will be uploaded Wednesday afternoons (twice on Thursday due to travel) ... Bison Coaches Corner is hosted by NDSU director of athletic broadcasting/sales Jeremy Jorgenson and directed by Andrew Young, a freshman broadcast journalism major from Napoleon, N.D. Bison Basketball Flex Ticket Package With the North Dakota State men's and women's basketball teams gearing up for The Summit League stretch run, the athletics department is offering the Bison Basketball Flex Ticket Package ... The women's flex pack allows fans to choose four of the six remaining home games for $30 ... With the men's flex pack, fans can choose to attend four of the five remaining home games for $40 ... The Bison Sports Arena ticket office is open between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday ... For more information, contact the NDSU ticket office at 1-888-231-NDSU (6378) or visit www.GoBison.com. GoBison.Com Live Stats Follow the games on the Internet at GoBison.com with live in-game statistics ... Click on the "Live Stats" link at the left side of the page ... Live video is available by subscription starting at $7.95 per month on GoBison.com or $19.95 per month for the league package on TheSummitLeague.org. Bison Fast Break It's "The Few, The Proud, The Bison", as the North Dakota State women's basketball roster dropped to seven healthy players during the second half of Western Illinois ... Junior guard Nicole Vigil is out for the rest of the season with a knee injury suffered with 13:25 left in the second half against Western Illinois (1-10-09) ... NDSU has added 5-foot-8 freshman Tiffany Giese from Ortonville, Minn., and 6-foot-1 junior Kate Moser from Bismarck, N.D. to the roster ... Giese was a volunteer on the practice squad ... Moser played in five games for the Bison in 2005-06 ... Moser was the 2008 NDSU Homecoming Queen ... Sophomore forward Abby Plucker will be evaluated again in early February following a shoulder injury sustained at Denver (12-15-08) ... Plucker has missed the last seven games ... North Dakota State was picked sixth in The Summit League preseason poll released in October ... The Bison four-game losing streak from Dec. 13 to Jan. 3 was the longest since an eight-game skid during the 2005-06 season ... NDSU had a season-high 52 rebounds at IPFW (1-5-09) including a season best 18 offensive rebounds ... North Dakota State is 8-2 when leading at halftime, 7-2 holding opponents to 59 points-under, 6-3 when outrebounding opponents and 5-2 when committing fewer turnovers ... Whitney Trecker recorded a career best for the third time in four games, exploding for 17 points at UMKC (1-17-09) including nine in the game's final 6:35 ... Trecker has scored in double-figures in three of the last four games ... Six-foot-2 senior Jerri Penley recorded a career-high 17 rebounds against IPFW (1-5-09) ... Penley has recorded double-figure rebounds in four of the last eight games ... With 15 points and 14 rebounds, Penley recorded the first "double-double" of the season and third of her career at Denver (12-15-08) ... Penley started the season 14 of 14 from the free throw line before missing her first against Oral Roberts (12-8-08) ... Penley made 19 straight free throws dating back to the second half of the UMKC (2-18-08) game ... Inger Hodgson came up with a career-high nine rebounds in the loss at Wyoming (12-13-08) ... Hodgson, who has a pair of 20-plus point scoring games this year, matched a career-high with five three-point field goals made at Southern Utah (1-19-09) ... Sophomore Abby Plucker had back-to-back career-high 20-point games against Georgetown (11-28-08) and Valley City State (11-21-08) ... Plucker is one of three players to score 20 points this season with Inger Hodgson and Katie Birkel netting 22 and 21, respectively, against Oral Roberts (12-8-08) ... Plucker scored in double-figures in the first eight games before hurting her shoulder at Denver (12-15-08) ... Ashley Samuelson pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds at Denver (12-15-08) ... Samuelson, a 6-foot junior from Underwood, Minn., sat out 2006-07 due to NCAA transfer rules (transfer from Colorado State) and missed last year due to a knee injury in the preseason ... North Dakota State's Carolyn DeHoff recorded her first victory as a collegiate head coach on Nov. 21 against Valley City State ... At 17-11 in 2008, North Dakota State surpassed the previous year's win total of 14 ... Three of NDSU's six league losses in 2008 were by five points or less ... The Bison led at halftime in 21 of 28 games in 2008, winning 15 of those games ... North Dakota State is 1-3 in overtime games the past two seasons and 14-12 overall in OT ... The Bison double OT win over Oral Roberts (3-1-08) tied the longest game in school history ... North Dakota State is 25-18 in opening games but have lost four in a row ... The Bison were 10-2 at home last season ... Lisa Bue, who was the 2008 Summit League Player of the Year, is playing professional basketball in Bosnia ... Bue's roommate is former NDSU post player Brandee Gibbs. Bison In The Summit League North Dakota State is well represented in The Summit League statistics (league games only) released Jan. 20 ... Individually in the top 10, Inger Hodgson is tied for 1st in three-point field goals made (3 avg.), 2nd in field goal shooting (.531, 43-81) and three-point shooting (.545, 24-44), 5th in scoring (15.1 ppg), 6th in steals (2 spg) and 8th in assists (2.8 apg) ... Katie Birkel is 2nd in assists (3.9 apg), 4th in assist/turnover ratio (1.1 ratio) and 10th in free throw shooting (.826, 19-23) ... Jerri Penley is 3rd in blocked shots (1.9 bpg) and 4th in rebounding (8.3 rpg) ... Jill Zaruba is 5th in free throw shooting (.875, 21-24) ... Team-wise (top three), the Bison are 1st in field goal percentage defense (.325, 147-453) and three-point shooting (.382, 42-110); 2nd in scoring defense (54.9 ppg) and field goal shooting (.446, 181-406), and 3rd in scoring offense (65.4 ppg), scoring margin (+10.5 ppg) and rebound margin (+4.4 rpg). Bison Finish Strong In 75-67 Win at Southern Utah Inger Hodgson tied a career-high with five three-pointers and five assists and North Dakota State shot 58.3 percent from the field in the second half as the Bison defeated Southern Utah 75-67 on Jan. 19 in Cedar City ... Hodgson netted 19 points to lead a group of four players in double-figures as the Bison broke free from a 40-40 deadlock early in the second half and gradually pulled away with an impressive 27-13 run over an eight-minute span ... NDSU finished with 70-plus points for only the fifth time this season and the first since defeating Oral Roberts 76-57 in Fargo on Dec. 8 ... Southern Utah had tied the game at 40-all with 14:30 left on Anne Westwood-Higbee's layup. Westwood connected on 10 of 15 field goal attempts and led the Thunderbirds a game-high 23 points ... While Higbee presented the Bison problems, North Dakota State employed a balanced offense that used alert efforts from a number of different players including Katie Birkel, Ashley Samuelson, Whitney Trecker and Hodgson, who scored in a variety of ways ... North Dakota State hit 47.5 percent from the field overall including 8 of 15 from the three-point line for 53.3 percent. Southern Utah made 43.5 percent from the field including 26.7 percent from the three-point arc ... The Thunderbirds held a 36-33 edge on the glass ... Birkel scored 17 points, Trecker finished with 14 points including 7 of 8 from the free throw line, and Samuelson added 11 points ... Trecker reached double-figures in scoring for the third time in four games and notched a career best seven rebounds ... Southern Utah came out firing and hit eight of its first 14 shots ... Higbee's layup with 12:15 left in the opening period put the Thunderbirds up 18-9 ... However, North Dakota State went on an 11-0 run and took a 20-18 lead on Jill Zaruba's free throw line jumper ... A Hodgson three-pointer, Samuelson drive and Birkel baseline jumper highlighted the run ... The Thunderbirds regrouped and regained the lead but the Bison closed strong ... Trecker hit one of two free throws and Samuelson recorded an offensive rebound bucket to give NDSU a 32-31 halftime lead. Morris Explosion Lifts 'Roos Past NDSU Chazny Morris scored all 19 of her points in the second half to lift host UMKC to a 68-62 win over North Dakota State on Jan. 17 ... Morris' game-high scoring total included six of the Kangaroos' final eight points including the eventual game-winning free throws with 41.4 seconds left ... She also hit a pair of free tosses with 25.5 seconds left and Kalei Nance made two with 16.2 seconds left to ice the win ... UMKC received a shot in the arm from Morris, who scored 10 of her team's first 12 points in the second half ... Morris made 5 of 10 field goals including a three-pointer and all eight free throws attempts ... Morris only played four minutes and had one field goal attempt in the first half after picking up two quick fouls ... The Kangaroos connected on 20 of 21 free throws overall for 95.2 percent ... Only six points separated the teams throughout the game ... The score was tied eight times during the contest and the lead changed hands on 11 occasions ... Whitney Trecker scored nine of her career and team-high 17 points in the game's final seven minutes to keep North Dakota State even with UMKC ... Trecker's driving layup tied the game at 62-all with 51 seconds left ... Trecker, who hit 6 of 12 from the field, surpassed her career best scoring effort for the third time over the past four games ... UMKC jumped out to a 31-25 lead with 3:35 left in the opening period on Heather Davis' fourth three-pointer of the first half ... Davis finished the game with 18 points on a 6 of 7 showing from the three-point line ... The Kangaroos hit 33.9 percent from the field overall but made 53.3 percent from the three-point arc ... However, the Bison scored the last six points to knot the score at 31-all at halftime ... Katie Birkel hit a pair of free throws, Inger Hodgson connected on a runner in the lane and Ashley Samueson made a layup after chasing down a rebound with 3-seconds left. Birkel scored 11 points ... The score was tied five times in the opening half and the lead changed hands on three occasions. NDSU outshot the Kangaroos 39.5 percent to 34.5 percent from the field in the first half, but UMKC tallied 14 points off of 12 Bison turnovers ... North Dakota State connected on 48 percent from the field in the second half and 44 percent overall ... The Bison held a 37-35 advantage on the glass led by Jerri Penley's game-high 10 rebounds. Hodgson Earns Summit League Weekly Honor Dec. 9 North Dakota State guard Inger Hodgson was named The Summit League Women's Basketball Player of the Week for her performance Dec. 6-8 ... The announcement was made by the league office Dec. 9 ... Hodgson, a 5-foot-9 junior from Barneveld, Wis., had back-to-back career high scoring efforts of 19 and 22 points in leading North Dakota State to a pair of wins over Centenary College (87-40) and Oral Roberts (76-57) during the opening weekend of Summit League play ... For the weekend, Hodgson connected on 16 of 20 field goal attempts for 80 percent including a 9 of 13 effort from the three-point line for 69.2 percent ... She added nine rebounds, eight steals and six assists, and committed only three turnovers in averaging 32 minutes on the court ... Hodgson hit 7 of 8 field goal attempts including a career best 5 of 6 three-pointers against Centenary on Dec. 6 ... She also came up with a career-high five steals against the Ladies. North Dakota State Signs Five North Dakota State University head women's basketball coach Carolyn DeHoff announced her first recruiting class on Nov. 12 ... It's a five-member class comprised of 6-foot-5 center Janae Burich (Roseville, Minn./Roseville H.S.), 5-10 guard Danielle DeGagne (Brandon, Manitoba/Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School), 6-2 center Paige Beck (Sioux Falls, S.D./Roosevelt H.S.), 5-11 guard Hannah Linz (Watkins, Minn./Eden Valley-Watkins H.S.), and 6-foot forward Rachelle Eckmann (St. James, Minn./St. James H.S.) -- who all signed national letters of intent to play basketball and continue their education at NDSU. The DeHoff File Carolyn DeHoff (Arizona State, '91) is in her first year as head coach of the Bison ... DeHoff has a 8-8 record including 6-2 in The Summit League ... She recorded her first win against Valley City State on Nov. 21 ... DeHoff became the ninth head women's basketball coach in the program's 44-year history on April 11, 2008 ... DeHoff was the associate head coach in 2007-08 on Elaine Elliott's Utah staff ... The Utes finished 27-5 overall and won the Mountain West Conference regular season championship with a 16-0 record ... Utah lost in the first round of the 2008 NCAA tournament ... Her duties at Utah included coordinating recruiting efforts, point guard development, organization and planning of the schedule, coordination of academic affairs and directing summer camps ... During her stay in Salt Lake City, the Utes won 123 games, three regular season conference championships and one MWC tournament title ... Utah made three trips to the NCAA tournament including an Elite Eight berth in 2006 and a WNIT appearance in 2007. The Utes also had a pair of WNBA first round draft picks, along with second round pick in this year's draft ... Her 17-year coaching resume includes a five-year stop at Weber State. The Wildcats went from a sub-.500 program to a back-to-back NCAA tournament participant ... Weber State won consecutive Big Sky titles and posted back-to-back 20 win seasons ... Prior to Weber State, DeHoff was the top assistant at Wyoming for seven seasons and also was an assistant coach at Coronado High School in Scottsdale, Ariz ... A standout high school player at Cheyenne (Wyo.) East, DeHoff was a Street & Smith's All-America her senior year ... She played at Arizona State University from 1987-90, where she was a captain ... A native of Cheyenne, DeHoff graduated from Arizona State in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in exercise science and physical education ... She was inducted into her high school athletic hall of fame in September 2008. Division I Certification North Dakota State received NCAA certification this summer for active status as a Division I member in all sports. NDSU reclassified from Division II beginning with an exploratory year in 2003-04, three seasons as a Division I independent from 2004-07 and one season in The Summit League without eligibility for the league tournament or NCAA playoffs.