What's on tap
On February 7, the Fighting Sioux women's basketball team will take on Seattle University. The Saturday tip-off will get underway at 7:30 p.m. at the Connolly Center in Seattle, Washington.
The UND vs. SU men's game will follow.
Seattle is nicknamed the Emerald City as a result of a contest held in the early 1980s; the reference is to the lush evergreen trees in the surrounding area
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 (none available for Saturday's game) can be found on the Official Site of Fighting Sioux athletics, www.fightingsioux.com.
TICKET INFORMATION
Single-game tickets for all North Dakota home games are $12 ($10 game day) for adults and $9 ($8 game day) for youth. UND students admitted free with ID.
Visit www.ticketmaster.com for more information.
Tickets for Saturday's game can be purchased at www.goseattleu.tix.com.
Last SIOUX ACTION
Six players finished in double-figures as the Fighting Sioux women's basketball team took at 96-42 victory over Minot State on Sunday afternoon in front of a Betty Engelstad Sioux Center crowd of 1,959.
The victory maintained North Dakota's unbeaten streak at home and moved it to 12-10 on the season.
Senior Danye Guinn led the Sioux with 15 points. The St. Francis, Minn. native shot 5-for-11 with four three-pointers and was 1-for-1 from the free throw line. She added seven rebounds and a career-high 10 assists.
Also with top finishes were senior Kierah Kimbrough (Greenbush, Minn.) and junior Kayla Bagaason (Clearbrook, Minn.) who tallied 14 points apiece. Kimbrough was 7-for-12 shooting while Bagaason went 2-for-3 from behind the arc.
Junior Jossy Bergan (Valley City, N.D.), redshirt freshman Kirstie Gillett, and junior Alys Seay (Grand Forks, N.D.) recorded 13, 11, and 10 points, respectively.
Gillett's point total set a new career high for the Tolna, N.D. native.
Each player got on the board for UND. Junior Whitney Ledger (Bismarck, N.D.) scored nine points, and sophomores Mallory Youngblut (Davenport, Iowa) and Corey Lof (Detroit Lakes, Minn.) pitched in five points.
NOTING THE SIOUX
The Fighting Sioux are on a two-game winning streak after taking a 68-55 victory over South Dakota (Jan. 24) and a 96-42 win over Minot State (Feb. 1).
In 2009, the Sioux hold a record of 6-2.
North Dakota is out-scoring its foes 1643-1435. It holds a 134 point advantage in the second half (859-725) and are up 774-692 in the opening 20 minutes.
UND's senior captains, Danye Guinn (St. Francis, Minn.) and Kierah Kimbrough (Greenbush, Minn.) continue to lead the team with double-figure averages.
A two-time Great West Conference Player of the Week, Kimbrough is scoring 18.9 points per game with an average of 7.2 rebounds. She is shooting .570 (172-for-302 from the field and .780 (71-for-91) from the free throw line.
She has recorded 52 of UND's total 97 blocks.
Guinn is chipping in 10.6 points per game with 4.3 assists. She is shooting .414 (77-for-186) from the field, .398 (37-for-93) from the three-point line and .860 (43-for-50) from the charity stripe.
She leads the team with 95 assists.
Sophomore Mallory Youngblut (Davenport, Iowa) is the team's top three-point shooter. She is 30-for-73 (.411) and has made at least one three in the past five games.
Youngblut is also the top free throw shooter with a .875 (28-for-32) percentage. She missed her first free throw in 15 games on Jan. 31 against South Dakota.
This is the second to last road trip for the Sioux. They final road game will be on March 1 in Edwardsville, Illinois.
ALL-TIME VS. SEATTLE
North Dakota and Seattle have met on the court just one other time. On December 6, 2006 in Seattle, the Sioux took a 74-65 victory over the Redhawks in the Emerald City.
Despite forcing 25 turnovers, the Seattle University women's basketball team could not overcome the inside strength of the University of North Dakota, as the fourth-ranked Fighting Sioux snapped Seattle's seven-game winning streak.
Ashley Langen led North Dakota with 21 points and 18 rebounds as the Fighting Sioux won the rebounding battle, 45-28. Langen went 11-of-12 from the free throw line, while Carissa Jahner hit 6-of-11 shots from the field and 6-of-7 attempts from the charity stripe to earn 19 points for North Dakota.
The win extended UND's win-streak to 11 games.
NOTING THE REDHAWKS
Seattle is on a five game winning streak after taking a 63-57 win over SIU-Edwardville on Jan. 31 in Illinois. It was the fourth straight victory on the road.
Cassidy Murillo (Yakima, Wash.) led all players with 19 points, plus she pulled down seven rebounds, dished out five assists, and earned two steals. Chelsie Morrison (Portland, Ore.) finished with 18 points and a team-high six steals, while Breanna Salley (East Bethel, Minn.) struggled from the field but still managed 11 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two blocked shots.
Salley is the team's lead scorer with an average of 17.4 points per game. The 5-11 sophomore forward is bringing down 4.9 rebounds per game and has recorded 18 blocks.
Morrison, a 5-11 senior forward is averaging 12.5 points per game and is shooting 80.0 percent (32-for-40) from the free throw line.
Seven players are shooting over 40.0 percent from the field and nine players are shooting over 50.0 percent from the free throw line.
SU's top rebounder is Mercedes Alexander, a 5-11 junior forward, who is averaging 8.6 boards per game.
SU HEAD COACH DAN KRILEY
Dan Kriley returns for his fifth season as the head women's basketball coach at Seattle University. In 2007-08, Kriley led the women's program to a 7-11 record in the GNAC and a 16-11 record overall. In addition, Kriley had three players that garnered Honorable Mention post season honors.
Kriley is clearly instilling a new attitude into the women's basketball program at Seattle University. He is teaching passion and desire with a heavy dose of work ethic and defensive intensity along the way. The result has been a rapidly improving team that has reached a level of national prominence.
In 2006-07, Kriley completed the turnaround of a struggling program to a team that finished 18-9 and narrowly missed advancing to the postseason. With his success, Kriley improved his overall record at Seattle University to 41-39.The 2006-07 team had the characteristics of a Kriley coached team, playing hard for 40 minutes, especially on the defensive end. Seattle finished 16th in the nation allowing just 35.5 percent shooting from the floor and 20th in the nation allowing just 55.9 points per game.
At the Individual level Kriley saw point guard Ashley Brown and post Laina Sobczak earn honors of second team All-GNAC. He also saw freshman guard Cassidy Murillo earn GNAC Freshman of the Year and Women's Division II Bulletin All-Freshman Team. Kriley's emphasis in the classroom also led Seattle players Quinn Brewe, Jackie Thomas, and Danica Dougherty to receive Academic All-GNAC honors.
In 2005-06, Kriley led Seattle to a 14-12 record, it's first winning season in 12 years. Kriley's focus on strong defense and intensity brought Seattle into the national eye, with the Redhawks finishing 11th in Division II in scoring defense, as opponents averaged only 55.5 points per game.
In 2004-05, Kriley took over a program that had not had a winning season since 1993-94. His first season saw his team progress tremendously throughout the year. Seattle's final 2004-05 record of 9-18 was clearly not representative of the team that played hard and was in games each night. Eight of the Redhawks' losses were by eight or less points, with six of those losses coming by margins of five or less points. The difference in those five-point-or-less losses meant the difference between a 9-18 record and a winning record.
Kriley first arrived at Seattle as a men's basketball assistant when Dave Cox served as the men's interim head coach. When Cox moved back to the helm of the women's program in 2001-02, Kriley was right along side of him, quickly becoming the Redhawks' chief assistant.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
All-time UND is 273-137 (.666) on the road and is 216-61 (.780) under Gene Roebuck.
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED?
Since its first road trip, which started on the second day of the season (Nov. 15), the North Dakota women's basketball team has logged 20,694 miles by air and ground.
They have touched down in 18 states - North Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, Ohio, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, New York, Vermont, Texas, Indiana, and South Dakota
Last to be checked off of the list - Washington.
WESTERGREN, YOUNGBLUT NAMED FSC ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Senior swimmer Per Westergren and sophomore guard Mallory Youngblut (Davenport, Iowa) have been named the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux Club Athletes of the Week for the week of Jan. 26 to Feb. 1.
Youngblut enjoyed the best game of her career in UND's 68-55 win at South Dakota on Saturday. The Davenport, Iowa, native recorded her first collegiate double-double with 20 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. She went 7-for-11 from the field, including a career-high five 3-pointers in eight attempts.
In three games last week, Youngblut averaged 13.0 points per game and led the Sioux to a pair of victories
