MOVING TO THE SUMMIT SERIES
| July 10 |
Basketball (Women) |
| July 17 |
Basketball (Men) |
| July 24 |
Golf |
| July 31 |
Soccer |
| Aug. 7 |
Volleyball |
| Aug. 14 |
Tennis |
| Aug. 21 |
Track & Field/Cross Country |
| Aug. 28 |
Softball |
The University of North Dakota will compete in The Summit League for all of its varsity sports (except hockey and football), beginning this season. The staff at FightingHawks.com will put together a sport-by-sport breakdown of what to expect, who the major players are, some history and stats to know as UND makes the transition. This eight-part weekly series begins with the basketball teams with the women featured this week and the men to follow on July 17.
A LITTLE HISTORY LESSON
On July 1, the University of North Dakota officially joined The Summit League for all of its varsity sports (except for hockey). Now stationed in Sioux Falls, S.D., The Summit League is in its 37th season, starting as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities (AMCU) in 1982, later rebranding as the Mid-Continent Conference in 1989. The then-Mid-Continent Conference did not sponsor women's sports until the 1992–93 school year. In 2007, the conference changed its name to The Summit League.
HOW MANY SCHOOLS IN THE SUMMIT LEAGUE?
There are nine schools with full membership in The Summit League, including five that are former North Central Conference foes. North Dakota rejoins conference rivalries against North Dakota State, South Dakota, South Dakota State and Omaha, all of whom transitioned to Division I following the dissolving of the NCC. Denver, Western Illinois, Purdue Fort Wayne and Oral Roberts make up the other schools in the conference.
HOW DOES THE SUMMIT STACK UP AGAINST THE BIG SKY?
When North Dakota joined the Big Sky Conference in the 2012-13 season, the Big Sky was perennially higher ranked in the conference RPI. In UND's first season in the Big Sky, the league was the 16th-ranked conference of the 31 Division I leagues while the Summit checked in at 24. In the last six years, the conferences have averaged the exact same position (18.3), but the trend has swung toward the Summit as that league was the 12th-best conference last season and was the 11th-toughest in 2016-17.
|
Big Sky |
Summit |
|
| 2017-18 |
19 |
12 |
|
| 2016-17 |
21 |
11 |
|
| 2015-16 |
19 |
18 |
|
| 2014-15 |
21 |
25 |
|
| 2013-14 |
14 |
20 |
|
| 2012-13 |
16 |
24 |
|
| AVG |
18.3 |
18.3 |
|
WHO HAVE BEEN THE RECENT WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS?
The Summit League has awarded just three different schools a regular season or tournament title over the past six seasons. Only twice in that span has a school won both titles in the same season. Last year, South Dakota completed a perfect 14-0 run through The Summit League regular season schedule but got knocked off by the Jackrabbits in the tournament championship game.
| |
Reg season |
Tournament |
| 2017-18 |
South Dakota |
South Dakota State |
| 2016-17 |
Western Illinois |
Western Illinois |
| 2015-16 |
South Dakota |
South Dakota State |
| 2014-15 |
South Dakota |
South Dakota State |
| 2013-14 |
South Dakota St. |
South Dakota |
| 2012-13 |
South Dakota St. |
South Dakota State |
WHERE IS THE SUMMIT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT?
Sioux Falls, S.D., has hosted The Summit League Tournament every year since 2008-09. The Denny Sanford PREMIER Center plays host to the three-day, eight-team championships in a neutral-court setting for both the men's and women's tournaments.
| ALL-TIME TOURNEY CHAMPIONS |
| WOMEN'S BASKETBALL |
| South Dakota State |
8 |
| Oral Roberts |
5 |
| Youngstown State* |
3 |
| Oakland* |
|
2 |
| Valparaiso* |
2 |
| Western Illinois |
2 |
| Green Bay* |
1 |
| Northern Illinois* |
1 |
| South Dakota |
1 |
| Troy* |
|
1 |
| *-former member |
|
RECENT MEETINGS
North Dakota boasts a 12-6 all-time mark against The Summit League schools in Division I play. Head coach
Travis Brewster sports an 11-6 mark against his new league foes.
| Date |
Opp. |
Result |
| 11/25/2011 |
vs. Southern Utah* |
W, 62-61 |
| 11/30/2012 |
at North Dakota St. |
W, 73-63 |
| 11/17/2013 |
South Dakota |
W, 65-61 |
| 12/14/2013 |
North Dakota St. |
W, 88-83 |
| 11/26/2014 |
at Omaha |
W, 72-52 |
| 11/29/2014 |
at Western Illinois |
W, 85-77 |
| 12/6/2014 |
at North Dakota St. |
W, 90-87 (ot) |
| 12/21/2014 |
at South Dakota |
L, 81-86 |
| 11/17/2015 |
Omaha |
W, 67-52 |
| 12/8/2015 |
Western Illinois |
W, 78-67 |
| 12/12/2015 |
North Dakota St. |
W, 71-54 |
| 12/19/2015 |
South Dakota |
L, 70-73 |
| 12/6/2016 |
South Dakota St. |
L, 72-83 |
| 12/10/2016 |
at North Dakota St. |
W, 76-55 |
| 3/16/2017 |
at South Dakota |
L, 55-78 |
| 11/15/2017 |
at South Dakota St. |
L, 52-66 |
| 12/9/2017 |
North Dakota St. |
W, 79-68 |
| 12/21/2017 |
at South Dakota |
L, 71-76 |
| *now in the Big Sky Conference |
|
OWNING THE STATE
Included in that 12-6 mark is a perfect 6-0 mark against in-state rival North Dakota State. The teams have played once each season dating back to 2012-13 and will play as conference opponents for the first time since the 2003-04 campaign this year.
HOW HAVE WE FARED INDIVIDUALLY AGAINST THE SUMMIT?
For those seniors that have played more than one season against Summit League teams, these three have found some success.
Lexi Klabo averaged 21 points and 10 rebounds per game against Summit schools last season. A breakdown of UND players against the Summit.
| Date/Opponent |
Lexi Klabo |
Bailey Strand |
Jill Morton |
|
Pts |
Rbs |
|
Pts |
Rbs |
Pts |
Rbs |
| 2017-18 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| at SDSU |
22 |
12 |
|
5 |
1 |
|
3 |
3 |
| NDSU |
23 |
10 |
|
9 |
3 |
|
8 |
3 |
| at USD |
18 |
8 |
|
15 |
1 |
|
9 |
5 |
| 2016-17 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| SDSU |
13 |
6 |
|
8 |
1 |
|
8 |
1 |
| at NDSU |
18 |
10 |
|
8 |
2 |
|
0 |
5 |
| at USD |
7 |
5 |
|
9 |
3 |
|
0 |
2 |
| 2015-16 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| OMAHA |
5 |
4 |
|
-- |
-- |
|
2 |
3 |
| WIU |
6 |
2 |
|
-- |
-- |
|
2 |
0 |
| NDSU |
1 |
1 |
|
-- |
-- |
|
4 |
0 |
| USD |
0 |
3 |
|
-- |
-- |
|
0 |
3 |
| 2014-15 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| at Omaha |
|
|
|
10 |
2 |
|
|
|
| at NDSU |
|
|
|
0 |
1 |
|
|
|
| at USD |
|
|
|
6 |
0 |
|
|
|
