UP NEXT FOR NORTH DAKOTA

After suffering a 69-53 setback to South Dakota (Feb. 5), the University of North Dakota women's basketball team is looking to tack on its first road win of the season as it travels to New Jersey to clash against the NJIT Highlanders.

Tipoff is slated for 5 p.m. (central) at the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.

This marks the first meeting between UND and NJIT this season. The Highlanders will make the trek to Grand Forks in two weeks for a Feb. 26 game at "The Betty".

LIVE FROM NEWARK

Thursday's Great West Conference game at NJIT will be broadcast live on KSNR 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 KSNR 100.3 FM (CatCountry) and on select stations across the Fighting Sioux radio network. Stay tuned for schedule changes.

Links for live radio, live chat and live stats can be found on the home of UND athletics, FightingSioux.com.

Want to listen to the game, but don't have access to a computer? KSNR 100.3 (CatCountry) can be accessed using the iheartradio application on your mobile phone.

SERIES HISTORY ... NJIT

• Overall: 2-0
• In Grand Forks: 1-0
• In Newark: 1-0

The University of North Dakota leads the all-time series against NJIT 2-0 since 2010.

The teams met for the first time on Feb. 23 at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Kayla Bagaason (F, Clearbrook, Minn.) banked her second-consecutive 20-point game to help lead UND to a 69-44 victory over NJIT in front of 1,649 fans at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.

Bagaason shot 8-for-12 from the field and 4-for-7 at three-point range to score 20 points and lead a set of four UND players in double-digits. Jossy Bergan (G, Valley City, N.D.) scored 13 points - with the help of three first-half three-pointers, and Whitney Ledger (F, Bismarck, N.D.) and Corey Lof (G, Detroit Lakes, Minn.) finished with 10 points apiece.

UND held all NJIT players to single-digit finishes. The Highlanders were led by Jessica Gerald, who finished with nine points. Melanie Griffin and Taiwo Oyelola tallied eight points apiece. Oyelola also added a team- and game-high 14 rebounds.

Five days later, the teams met again, this time in New Jersey. Call it a happy ending to a chaotic six-day adventure, the University of North Dakota women's basketball team called it attainment. Earlier in the season head coach Gene Roebuck and the rest of the Fighting Sioux set a goal to win the Great West Conference championship. With the 59-49 victory over the New Jersey of Institute of Technology at the Fleisher Athletic Center on Feb. 28, the Sioux were guaranteed at least a portion of the league title.

Mallory Youngblut and Ledger paced UND with a set of double-doubles. Youngblut, a Davenport, Iowa native, tallied her seventh career double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds (eight defensive). She netted a then career-high six three-pointers and added a free throw to record her fifth-consecutive game in double-digits. Youngblut also registered five blocked shots.

Ledger finished with 18 points and a 13 rebounds (nine defensive). She shot 7-for-13 from the field and 4-for-7 at the free throw line to garner the fourth double-double of her career and her second-straight double-figure game.

The pair was joined in double-figures by Kayla Bagaason who shot 5-for-18 from the field and 1-for-1 at the charity stripe for 12 points.

Each of the afternoon's starters got on the board for the Sioux. Bergan finished with eight points and Lof had one field goal. Bergan had three steals and two assists. Lof finished with a five assists and two steals.

The Highlanders were led by Gerald, who finished with 20 points and six rebounds on 6-for-20 shooting from the field and a 4-for-8 performance at the free throw line. Taiwo Oyelola tallied a double-double for NJIT with 10 points and 12 rebounds (seven defensive).

SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS (7-12, 3-1 GWC)

Picked to finish sixth in the Great West Conference, NJIT is playing its first game since nabbing a 59-49 win over Savannah State (Feb. 3) and its first conference game since taking down Utah Valley 55-52 on Jan. 29.

Senior guard Jessica Gerald led the Highlanders against Savannah State with a game-high 22 points. She leads the team averaging 16.1 ppg overall and 21.3 ppg against league foes. She is shooting a team-best .796 (82-for-103) from the free throw line and has made a team-high 48 three-pointers.

Melanie Griffin is second on the team averaging 11.5 ppg overall, however, she has been sidelined for the remainder of the season after suffering an ACL injury in December.

Stepping in to pick up the slack for Griffin is Rayven Johnson, who is averaging 11.3 ppg and along with teammate Ivana Seric, is averaging a team best 5. 9 rpg.

Seric leads the team with 59 assists and 28 steals. Uju Nwankwo is shooting a team-best .500 (19-for-38) from the field and Kristian Parker tops the Highlanders with 18 blocks.

As a team, NJIT is averaging 56.5 ppg against all opponents and 61.8 ppg against league foes.

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.

McKeon's track record includes five NCAA Division I postseason tournament appearances in her years as an assistant coach and head coach.

In five years as head coach at Boston University (1999-2004), McKeon transformed the Terriers from a team with five wins the season before her arrival to one that earned a spot in the NCAA Division I Tournament by her fourth season and was only a game short of repeating as America East Conference champion the following year.

NOTING THE FIGHTING SIOUX (8-12, 4-1 GWC)

Picked to repeat as Great West Conference champions in the 2010-11 preseason coaches poll, the University of North Dakota women's basketball team is in its third year of transition towards NCAA Division I status.

UND's six-game winning streak came to an end last weekend (Feb. 5) when the Fighting Sioux fell to South Dakota 69-53 in Vermillion. The Coyotes were led by a 24-point, 11-rebound (10 defensive) double-double by Amber Hegge.

Only two players reached double figures for the Sioux. Senior forward Mallory Youngblut (Davenport, Iowa) led the way with 18 points, including a trio of three-pointers and freshman forward Madi Buck (Bismarck, N.D.) chipped in another 10 points. Buck led the team with eight rebounds and tallied a personal best three assists.

Heading in to game 21, Youngblut leads the team averaging 13.8 ppg overall and 17.4 ppg against league opponents. She leads the team and the GWC shooting .889 (48-for-54) at the free throw line, including a .933 (14-for-15) showing against in conference games. Youngblut is also shooting a team best .429 (48-for-112) at three-point range through 20 games and .586 (17-for-29) against GWC opponents.

Freshman center Allyssa Wall (North Sioux City, S.D.) ranks second on the team averaging 11.1 ppg, 13.8 ppg in league games. She is shooting .552 (85-for-154) from the field and .761 (51-for-67) at the free throw line. Those numbers get better during league play where she is .675 (27-for-40) from the field and .833 (15-for-18) at the line. Often the tallest player on the court, Wall leads the team and is ranked second in the Great West with 46 blocks 2.3 bpg.

Senior forward Corey Lof (Detroit Lakes, Minn.), UND's top rebounder for much of the season, is averaging 5.1 rpg and has already surpassed the 100-rebound mark for the season. She also leads the team with 38 steals.

North Dakota's assist leader is junior guard Charnay Mothershed (Phoenix, Ariz.), with 72 followed by Youngblut (65), and sophomore guard Nicole Smart (Ada, Minn.) with 41.

The Fighting Sioux are averaging 64.6 ppg overall and 73.0 ppg when up against league opponents.

ON A NATIONAL SCALE

Due to their reclassification status, the Fighting Sioux do not count in the national team and individual rankings. However, if they did, they'd be ranked top 40 in a three of categories.

The Sioux currently lead all reclassifying schools and would be tied with Oral Roberts nationally at No. 16 in free throw percentage (.759). They would also be No. 15 with a .372 three-point shooting percentage and No. 40 with 15.6 assists per game.

Freshman center Allyssa Wall (North Sioux City, S.D.) would be listed No. 34 in blocked shots (2.3 bpg). Senior forward Mallory Youngblut (Davenport, Iowa) leads all players from reclassifying schools and would be tied with Aaryn Ellenberg (Oklahoma) and Kevi Luper (Oral Roberts) at No 17 with a .429 three-point shooting percentage.

RECORD REWIND

The University of North Dakota women's basketball program holds a 776-294 (.725) record all-time since the first game was played in 1974. Under head coach Gene Roebuck, UND is 600-130 (.822).

Click the PDF link above to view the complete game notes release ...

- Go Sioux -