Bison Women Open Summit League Play at South Dakota State on Dec. 30

Complete release attached

North Dakota State (4-8) is scheduled to open Summit League play at South Dakota State (8-5) at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 30, at Frost Arena (6,500) ... The game will be televised on Midco Sports Network and Fox College Sports Pacific ... Tom Nieman and Brad Newitt will describe the action ... The Jackrabbits have won four straight Summit League tournament titles ... SDSU has won two straight and five of its last six including a 64-58 win at Georgetown on Dec. 21 ... North Dakota State snapped a five-game losing streak with a 60-48 win over Milwaukee on Dec. 23 ... Dani DeGagne had 16 points as the Bison outscored the Panthers 37-14 in the second half ... North Dakota State moved up to 9th nationally in free throw pct., hitting 114 of 144 attempts for 79.2 percent in the Dec. 16th report ... Hannah Linz has hit all 13 free throw attempts this season ... Freshman Marena Whittle pulled down 11 rebounds in the win over Milwaukee on Dec. 23, her third double-figure rebound effort of the season ... Five-foot-eight senior Katie Birkel moved up to 20th on the NDSU all-time scoring list with 1,183 points.

The Series
This will be the 76th meeting between North Dakota State and South Dakota State ... NDSU leads the series 38-37 ... The Bison lost twice to SDSU last season, 88-52 on Jan. 20, 2012, in Fargo, and 88-43 on Feb. 18, 2012, in Brookings ... SDSU has won 14 of the last 15 meetings ... North Dakota State did snap a 10-game losing streak to the Jackrabbits on Dec. 4, 2010, with a 78-71 win before 3,855 at Frost Arena in Brookings.

Bison On Radio
Sunday’s South Dakota State game will be on 740 The Fan ... Radio Fargo Moorhead sports director Jack Michaels will handle the call ... There is a 20 minute-pregame and a 20-minute postgame .... Pregame starts at 1:40 p.m. with a 2 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.

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 20th on the all-time scoring list with 1,183 points ... She is averaging 11.9 points per game during her career ... Birkel has started all 99 games played, 5th all-time ... She is 1st in minutes played per game (33.3 avg/g), tied for 6th in three-point field goals attempted (348), 8th in steals per game average (1.8 avg/g) and in assists per game average (3 avg/g), and 10th in steals (177) three-point field goals made (112) ... Birkel has played 3,300 minutes over 99 games.

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 (154) and three-pointers attempted (445), and 9th in three point shooting (.346, 154-445).