UP NEXT FOR NORTH DAKOTA
The Fighting Sioux will look to not only extend their winning-streak to eight games, but will also look to break .500 as they wrap up the regular-season road schedule on Feb. 28 with a rescheduled Great West Conference contest at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). The originally-schedule Saturday, Feb. 27 game between the Sioux and the Highlanders was postponed due to heavy weather in the Northeast that stranded UND in Detroit. North Dakota and NJIT will tip-off Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center in Newark, N.J.
NOTING THE FIGHTING SIOUX
The University of North Dakota extended its winning-streak to seven games after picking up a 70-66 Great West Conference victory at Chicago State in Illinois. Since the beginning of the transition to NCAA Division I status, the Sioux have not lost on the road against and of the current league members.
At CSU junior Mallory Youngblut (G, Davenport, Iowa) led a pack of four Fighting Sioux players in double-figures with 18 points and nine rebounds. She is currently second on the team behind senior Kayla Bagaason (G, Clearbrook, Minn.) averaging 12.0 ppg overall and 14.7 ppg in the Great West. She leads the team with 6.8/7.5 GWC rebounds per game and has gathered a team-best 52 steals and 18 blocked shots.
Through UND's winning-streak Youngblut is averaging 15.3/14.7 GWC ppg and is shooting .438 from the field, .372 beyond the arc, and .813 at the free throw line. She is also averaging 7.7/7.6 GWC rpg.
Bagaason leads the Sioux averaging 14.0 ppg overall and 16.7 ppg against GWC opponents. She is shooting a team-best .420 (68-for-162) at three-point range and .833 (35-for-42) at the free throw line.
Bagaason is currently on a 10-game, double-figure streak and has scored at least 20 points in four of the last six games. She hasn't missed a free throw since the Dec. 13, 2009 game at Drake and is averaging 14.2 ppg (16.7 ppg GWC) on the road.
Also averaging overall and league double-figures is senior Whitney Ledger (F, Bismarck, N.D.). She sits with 10.4 ppg overall and 11.1 ppg against GWC opponents. Ledger leads the team with a .483 (83-for-172) shooting percentage from the field and has scored a team-high 84 points at the charity stripe. She leads the team with 73 offensive rebounds.
Senior Jossy Bergan (G, Valley City, N.D.) is averaging 10.3 ppg when against league foes. She boasts a team-high 84 assists and is two shy of Youngblut's team-high 52 steals.
Freshman Nicole Smart (G, Ada, Minn.) has tallied at least one three-pointer in our of the last five games.
Senior Alys Seay (G, Grand Forks, N.D.) has grabbed at least two rebounds during UND's seven-game, winning-streak. She broke her two-game scoring silence with eight points (4-for-6) at Chicago State.
Freshman Carly Rothfusz (G, Eden Prairie, Minn.) has not registered a field goal since the Jan. 4, 2010 game at Eastern Michigan.
The Fighting Sioux set a new season-high with 13 three-pointers against Chicago State. While on the winning-streak, they have netted at least six treys in each game.
North Dakota currently boasts the longest winning-streak in the conference and is the only team at .500 overall.
SERIES HISTORY
The University of North Dakota opened the series with NJIT in February 2010.
The Fighting Sioux currently lead the series 1-0 over NJIT after registering a 69-44 victory on Feb. 23 in Grand Forks.
One of the 11 first time opponents on the schedule for the Fighting Sioux this season, NJIT is the 188th opponent in program history.
SISTER, SISTER
NJIT is one of two teams in the conference (Chicago State) with sisters on the roster. The Highlanders have Taiwo and Kehine Oyelola and the Cougars have Courtney and Alyssa Waldon.
NOTING THE HIGHLANDERS
The 44-69 loss to North Dakota on Feb. 23 snapped a five-game, Great West winning-streak for NJIT. It was the least amount of points tallied in a conference game for the Highlanders and the worst finish since the 38-64 loss at Lehigh (Dec. 18).
They have since bounced back with a 55-53 conference win over South Dakota on Feb. 25 in Newark, N.J.
Jessica Gerald leads the Highlanders averaging 15.9 ppg overall and 17.6 ppg against Great West opponents. She is shooting a team-high .744 at the free throw line. The reigning GWC player of the week, against the Sioux Gerald was held to just nine points and the Coyotes allowed just 11.
Katie Piekielski was the only other Highlander to register double-figures versus South Dakota. She finished with 10 points.
The only other NJIT player averaging double-figures is senior Taiwo Oyelola (5-10, F), who is posting 10.0 ppg overall and 11.0 ppg in the Great West. She leads the team with a .416 shooting percentage in the field, 6.6 rpg, and 45 steals.
Top three-pointer shooter for NJIT is Taiwo's sister Kehinde Oyelola (Sr., 5-10, F). She is shooting .329 at three-point range. Sophomore Melanie Griffin (5-6, G) leads the team with 79 assists and junior Ivana Seric (6-2, F) has recorded a team-high 18 blocked shots.
NJIT HEAD COACH MARGARET MCKEON
Margaret McKeon joined NJIT women's basketball as head coach in July 2007, bringing with her a deep passion for teaching basketball and a proven record of having transformed a struggling program into an NCAA Division I Tournament qualifier.
Her abilities were evident almost immediately in her first preseason practices at NJIT and it carried over into the season with a high-energy playing style and an attitude that made the Highlanders a threat for all 40 minutes, no matter what the score.
At first, however, wins were hard to come by, as McKeon's first NJIT team opened at 2-10. But the new approach began to bear fruit in early January and the Highlanders went 8-9 the rest of the way, including a 2-1 record in the national Independent Division I Tournament.
Their final record of 10-19, more than doubled the win total from NJIT's first season of Division I competition (4-24 overall, 3-23 against Division I opponents in 2006-07).
The six-win improvement from one year to the next was the second-best in the 21-season history of the program, topped only by a jump of 11 wins (4 to 15) between 2000-01 and 2001-02 at the Division II level.
RECORD REWIND
The University of North Dakota women's basketball program holds a 764-281 (.731) record all-time since the first game was played in 1974. Under head coach Gene Roebuck, UND is 588-117 (.834).
The 76-54 win over Chicago State on Feb. 13 marked the 701st Fighting Sioux women's basketball game coached by Roebuck.
PROTECT AND SERVE
All-time, the Fighting Sioux are 413-78 (.841) when it comes to defending their own court and are 320-35 (.901) under the tutelage of Gene Roebuck.
North Dakota is just NINE games away from playing its 500th home game.
Since the program's beginning in 1974, the Green and White have gone undefeated in Grand Forks six 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 82-10 (.891) all-time at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, which opened prior to the 2004-05 season.
In just EIGHT home games, UND will celebrate their 100th game played in the friendly confines of 'The Betty'.
MEDIA INFORMATION
Sunday's 1 p.m. game at NJIT will be broadcast on 100.3 FM (CatCountry) with Paul Ralston handling the play-by-play.
All Fighting Sioux women's basketball games - home and away - can be heard on CatCountry 100.3 FM and on stations across the Fighting Sioux radio network.
Stay tuned for any schedule changes.
Links for live stats, an audio/video webcast (selected games), live chat (selected games), and streaming audio (selected games) can be found on the Official Site of Fighting Sioux athletics, FightingSioux.com.
An audio/video webcast will be provided for the Chicago State game.
- Go Sioux -
