What's on tap
On Thursday, February 19, the North Dakota women's basketball team will match-up with the last of its first-time opponents when it hosts SIU-Edwardsville. Game time is slated for 6 p.m. at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center and will follow with the UND vs. SIUE men's game.
Media information
All Fighting Sioux women's basketball games - home and away - can be heard on Cat Country 100.3 FM and on stations across the Fighting Sioux radio network. Paul Ralston handles the play-by-play.
Stay tuned for any schedule changes.
Links for live stats, live radio audiocast, and a live audio/video webcast can be found on the Official Site of Fighting Sioux athletics, www.fightingsioux.com.
WBCA PINK ZONE
BREAST CANCER AWARENESS
Mission Statement: The WBCA Pink Zone? initiative is a global, unified effort for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond.
History: The WBCA began the WBCA Pink Zone?, formerly known as “Think Pink”, in 2007 as an initiative to raise breast cancer awareness in women's basketball, on campuses and in communities. In 2007, more than 120 schools unified for this effort and helped make the inaugural year a success. In 2008, over 1,200 teams and organizations participated, reaching over 830,000 fans and raising over $930,000 for breast cancer awareness and research.
GAME PROMOTIONS
First 2,500 fans will receive pink pom poms.
All UND Students will enjoy free pizza between games (while supplies last).
All season long, North Dakota fans can enjoy “All You Can Eat Seats”. Prices are $18 for adults and $10 for youth. Each ticketed person receives a wristband for unlimited nachos, hot dogs, chips, and soda.
Also ongoing will be “Operation Enduring Friendship” providing free entry to all military personnel and their dependents. Each game is limited to 50 tickets.
Thursday's game sponsor is Altru Health System.
Last SIOUX ACTION
North Dakota's Kierah Kimbrough and Mallory Youngblut finished with double-doubles as the Fighting Sioux out-played Houston Baptist to a 95-67 victory in front of a crowd of 2,675 at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
Kimbrough, a forward from Greenbush, Minn., led all players with 32 points and 10 rebounds. She was 15-for-19 from the field, 2-for-2 from the line and provided three blocked shots. It was the senior's seventh double-double of the season, the 27th of her career, and marked the second 30-point finish during her four years with the Sioux.
A Davenport, Iowa native, Youngblut shot 3-for-4 from the three point-line enroute to 15 points and her second career double-double. Her 10 rebounds ? all defensive ? tied her career high. This was the second time in four games that the sophomore guard doubled-up.
Junior G Kayla Bagaason (Clearbrook, Minn.) and junior F Whitney Ledger (Bismarck, N.D.) also helped pace UND to victory. Bagaason went 4-for-6 from behind the arc and added a field goal to finish with 14 points. Off the bench, Ledger hit 4-for-8 from the field and 3-for-5 from the charity strip to come away with 11 points.
Senior G Danye Guinn (St. Francis, Minn.) put up big numbers in the compliments category. Her 12 assist finish set a new personal standard and was just three shy of the school-record 15 set by Christy Waldal in 1996.
NOTING THE SIOUX
Through 24 games, North Dakota has out-scored its opponents 1812-1577 with the bulk of the points coming in the second half. In the second stanza, the Fighting Sioux are posting a 145 point advantage (944-799).
Topping the charts for UND are senior captains F Kierah Kimbrough (Greenbush, Minn.) and G Danye Guinn (St. Francis, Minn.).
With a season-high 32 points scored against Houston Baptist (Feb. 14), Kimbrough is averaging 19.9 points per game with 7.3 rebounds. She leads the squad with 56 blocks.
Guinn is averaging 10.7 points per game and has totalled 111 assists this season.
UND's top three-point and free throw shooter is sophomore G Mallory Youngblut (Davenport, Iowa). She is 34-for-81 (.420) from beyond the arc and 28-for-32 (.875) at the bonus line.
The Sioux will play one more home game at the Betty before traveling to Edwardsville, Illinois for their final road game of the season.
ALL-TIME VS. SIU-EDWARDSVILLE
Thursday will mark the first time that North Dakota and SIU-Edwardsville - two teams in transition to Division I - will meet at center court, but it won't be the last.
On March 1, the Fighting Sioux will travel to Edwards, Illinois to play in the Vadalabene Center, home of the Cougars.
The teams will then have the chance to meet again in Grand Forks at the UND Spring Thaw slated for March 7-8 at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
NOTING THE COUGARS
SIU-Edwardsville is on a two-game losing streak after falling to Seattle (63-57) and Miami (83-72). Earlier in the season, the Cougars went 16 straight without a win. The slump was overcome when they took a 63-38 victory over Robert Morris (Springfield).
Jenny Wuest tops the SIUE scoring list and is the only player averaging double digits. The 5-11 senior forward is posting a 13.1 average and a team-high 20 blocks.
Jessie Stapleton, a 5-9 senior forward, is the Cougar's top rebounder with an average of 7.6 per contest.
Beyond the arc, 5-8 junior guard Kate Affourtit is shooting 31.7 percent (19-for-60) and 6-1 sophomore center Sydney Winslow has gone 32-for-43 (.744) from the charity stripe.
SIUE HEAD COACH AMANDA LEVENS
Amanda Levens enters her first season as the head coach of the SIUE women's basketball program. Levens comes to SIUE from University of Nevada-Reno where she was an assistant coach. Levens, 29, will be one of the youngest head coaches at the NCAA Division I level when the Cougars lace up their shoes for play this fall. Only two other current coaches at the NCAA Division I level are younger.
As the Cougars continue the reclassification process to NCAA Division I, Levens will be charged with developing a women's basketball program that reflects SIUE's commitment to excellence, academic integrity, service to the community and commitment to all students. Hewitt said that during the interview process, Levens stood out as a coach eager to make those challenges a reality. Every constituency group represented during the interview process recognized Amanda for her confidence and sincerity.
Regarded as one of the top young assistant coaches in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) for the past five seasons, Levens was part of Nevada's coaching staff just one year after completing her Bachelor of Arts degree in history at Arizona State University in 2002. Levens also completed her Master's in higher education administration from Nevada-Reno in 2007.
PROTECT AND SERVE
All-time, the Fighting Sioux are 407-74 (.846) when it comes to defending their own court and are 311-30 (.912) under the tutelage of Gene Roebuck.
Since the program's beginning in 1974, the Green and White have gone undefeated in Grand Forks five times, including back-to-back seasons from 1997-1999. In those years, the Sioux were national champions.
LET'S GET BETTY TO RUMBLE
UND is 78-6 (.929) all-time at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, which opened prior to the 2004-05 season.
In 2007, UND drew 28,514 fans to its 15 home games, an average of 1,901 per game. In 2006, UND was cited by the WBCA for having the Best Fans and Best Facility in Division II.
GO FIGURE
This season alone, the Fighting Sioux have scored points at the Betty.
