Bison Women Host Drake on Thursday

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North Dakota State (3-5) is scheduled to host Drake University (2-4) at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, at the Bison Sports Arena (5,830) ... The Bison lost 73-63 to North Dakota on Nov. 30 ... Hannah Linz and Katie Birkel each scored 18 points, while Marena Whittle grabbed seven rebounds ... NDSU lost at Northern Colorado 75-61 on Dec. 2 ... Birkel led the Bison with 19 points and Dani DeGagne snared six rebounds ... Drake posted a 67-39 win over Chicago State its last time out on Dec. 2 ... Morgan Reid led the Bulldogs with 12 points, while Alyssa Marschner scored 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds ... North Dakota State heads into final exams next week and then takes to the court again in 10 days, playing at Creighton University at 2:05 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 16, and at Green Bay at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 18 ... North Dakota State ranks 4th nationally in free throw shooting at 80.8 percent (101-125).

The Series
This will be the third meeting between North Dakota State and Drake University ... The Bulldogs lead the series 2-0 ... Drake defeated NDSU 57-49 in Des Moines, Iowa, last season ... Abby Plucker led the Bison with 13 points ...Rachael Hackbarth recorded 26 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs ... It will be the second of three meetings with a Missouri Valley Conference team this season ... The Bison lost 66-50 to UNI on Nov. 17 and play at Creighton on Dec. 16 ... NDSU is 3-12 vs. the Missouri Valley all-time.

Bison On Radio
Thursday’s Drake University game will be on 740 The Fan ... Veteran sports announcer Scott Miller will handle the play-by-play, while Jeremy Jorgenson, NDSU Director of Athletic Sales and Broadcast will serve as color analyst ... There is a 20 minute-pregame and a 20-minute postgame .... Pregame starts at 6:40 p.m. with a 7 p.m. tipoff ... Scott Miller hosts Bison Feedback on KFGO-AM 790 featuring women’s basketball coach Carolyn DeHoff and men’s basketball coach Saul Phillips on Mondays 7-8 p.m. at the completion of football season.

At Home With the Bison
North Dakota State has compiled a 402-70 (.852) record at home, including a 99-31 mark inside the “Friendly Confines” over the past 10 seasons good for a .762 winning percentage ... NDSU is 2-2 at home ... The Bison are averaging 1,212 fans over four home dates this season including a season high 2,709 against North Dakota on Nov. 30.

Bison Fourth in Summit League Preseason Poll
North Dakota State University was picked fourth in The Summit League preseason poll in voting conducted by the league’s head coaches, SIDs and media ... Five-foot-eight senior guard Katie Birkel was named to the league’s preseason first team, while 6-foot-5 senior center Janae Burich was selected to the second team ... Four-time Summit League tournament champion South Dakota State was picked to finish first ... Kansas City was second and Oakland was third.

Birkel Moving Up Career Charts
North Dakota State 5-foot-8 senior Katie Birkel is moving up the career charts ... Birkel, who missed last season due to a knee injury, has moved up to 25th on the all-time scoring list with 1,138 points ... Birkel has started all 95 games played in her career ... She is 1st in minutes played per game (33.2 avg/g), 6th in assists average (3.1 avg/g), 8th in three-point field goals attempted (326), 8th in steals average (1.8 avg/g), 8th in games started (95) and 10th in three-point field goals made (111).

Burich and the Blocked Shot
North Dakota State  6-foot-5 senior center Janae Burich tied the school single-game record of seven blocked shots last season vs. IPFW ... She tied the record last season vs. IUPUI ... Burich has three blocked shots this season ... On the NDSU career charts, Burich is 1st in blocks per game average (2.5 bpg) and 2nd in blocked shots (211) in 85 career games ... The career record is 222 set by Lisa Stamp from 1983-87.

Linz and the Three-Point Shot
North Dakota State  5-foot-11 senior guard Hannah Linz was the only Bison player to start in all 31 games last season and ranked 12th nationally in three-point accuracy ... On the career charts, Linz is 2nd in three-pointers made (150) and three-pointers attempted (431), and 9th in three point shooting (.348, 150-431).