Bison Women Host IUPUI, Western Illinois

complete release attached

North Dakota State (6-11, 2-3 Summit League) is scheduled to host a pair of Summit League games ... NDSU will play IUPUI (9-7, 3-1 Summit League) at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17, at the Bison Sports Arena (5,830) ... IUPUI defeated Omaha 60-49 on Jan. 10 ... The Bison split on the road, dropping a 65-58 decision at Fort Wayne on Jan. 10 and defeating Oakland 60-59 on Jan. 12 on Marena Whittle’s last-second shot ... NDSU will play Western Illinois (9-7, 2-2 Summit League) at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 19 ... The Fighting Leathernecks defeated Omaha 71-44 on Jan. 12 ... IUPUI is currently in second place, Western Illinois is tied for fourth, NDSU is tied for sixth ... North Dakota State ranks 8th nationally in free throw shooting, hitting 190 of 244 attempts for 77.9 percent ... Five-foot-eight senior Katie Birkel ranks 19th on the NDSU scoring list with 1,246 points.

The Series
This will be the 12th meeting between North Dakota State and IUPUI ... NDSU leads the series 7-4 ... The Jaguars won two of three meetings last season ... IUPUI won 49-39 at Indianapolis on Nov. 30, 2011 ... The Bison won 58-56 on Feb. 27, 2012, on a Hannah Linz last-second shot ... The Jaguars won 80-64 in the first round of The Summit League tournament on March 4, 2012 ... This will be the 12th meeting between North Dakota State and Western Illinois ... The Bison lead the series 8-3 ... The Fighting Leathernecks won 68-65 on Dec. 2, 2011, at Macomb ... NDSU won 73-53 on Feb. 25, 2012, in Fargo.

Bison On Radio
Thursday’s IUPUI game will be on 740 AM The Fan ... Radio Fargo Moorhead sports director Jack Michaels will handle the call and NDSU director of sales and broadcasting Jeremy Jorgenson 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 ... Saturday’s Western Illinois game will be on 740 The Fan ... 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 Home With the Bison
North Dakota State has compiled a 404-72 (.849) record at home, including a 101-33 mark inside the “Friendly Confines” over the past 10 seasons good for a .754 winning percentage ... NDSU is 4-4 at home ... The Bison are averaging 756 fans over eight home dates this season including a season high 2,709 against North Dakota on Nov. 30.

Bison In The Summit League Statistics
North Dakota State was represented in the Summit League statistics released Jan. 13, 2013 (league games only) ... Individually in the top 10, Dani DeGagne is 2nd in rebounding (8.8 rpg), 5th in free throw shooting (.870, 20-23), tied for 5th in assists (3.4 apg), 6th in scoring (16 ppg) and tied for 6th in steals (2.4 spg); Katie Birkel is 8th in assists (3.2 apg) and 13th in scoring (12.6 ppg) and Marena Whittle is 4th in rebounding (7.2 rpg) ... Team-wise (top three), the Bison lead the league in free throw shooting at .794 (50-63) and turnovers (11.8 avg/g).

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 19th on the all-time scoring list with 1,246 points ... She is averaging 12 points per game during her career ... Birkel has started all 104 games played, 5th all-time ... She is 1st in minutes played per game (33.5 avg/g), 5th in three-point field goals attempted (368), 8th in steals per game average (1.8 avg/g), assists per game average (3 avg/g) and in three-point field goals made (118), and 10th in steals (184) ... Birkel has played 3,484 minutes over 104 games.

Linz’ Career Comes to a Close
North Dakota State head coach Carolyn DeHoff announced Jan. 3 that the career of senior guard Hannah Linz has come to a close ... Linz has experienced a recurrence of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and will begin treatment for the cancer ... Linz was originally diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma on April 8, 2010, following her freshman season with the Bison ... “We have witnessed firsthand Hannah’s fight to beat it the first time and see this setback as nothing different in her approach to win the battle with cancer this time,” said DeHoff. “We ask that you keep her in your thoughts and prayers and respect Hannah’s privacy at this time.” ... Linz (Watkins, Minn.) played in 100 games for the Bison since the start of the 2009-10 season, averaging 6.5 points per game ... She was the only NDSU player to start all 31 games last season, finishing the year ranked 12th nationally in three-point accuracy at 39.9 percent ... Linz is No. 2 all-time at NDSU with 156 three-pointers made ... She is a three-time selection to the Summit League All-Academic Team ... Linz plans to complete her education at NDSU and graduate with a degree in nursing.