Conference play reaches its midpoint

It was a solid weekend overall for NDSU basketball. The men’s and women’s teams combined to go 3-1 on the weekend against instate rival UND to remain near the top of Summit League standings.

Men

The Herd traveled to Grand Forks on Friday having won their first four games in conference, and six of their previous seven overall. The Bison easily handled the Fighting Hawks 62-45 in the first of their two game set against UND.

Double digit games from senior leader Rocky Kreuser (11) and Junior guard Tyree Eady (10) led the way for the Herd in the pull away victory.

Unbelievably the Fighting Hawks tied the record for least amount of free throw attempts ever taken in a basketball game with, wait for it…zero. So despite the loss, UND now owns a record that can never be broken (unless an alternate reality exists where basketball teams can attempt negative free throws).

Saturday’s game came with a tough loss for the Herd. Despite a 32 point 10 rebound outburst from Kreuser, the Bison dropped an 82-78 OT thriller to the Hawks.

An 12-7 run by UND to end the overtime period sealed the a Hawks win, a brought NDSU their first Summit league loss of the season.

Women

The Bison women faired better than the men, sweeping the lowly 0-10 Hawks by a combined score of just seven points.

A clutch jumper by Bison sophomore Heaven Hamling in the final five seconds sealed the herd’s 64-60 win over UND in Friday’s matchup.

Junior transfer Reneya Hopkins led the way for the Bison on Friday dropping 14 points in just 24 minutes.

Like the Men’s game, NDSU and UND’s Saturday game took overtime to decide a winner, this time with the good guys coming out on top.

West Fargo native Emily Dietz was a rebound shy of a double-double while sophomores Hamling (14) and Kadie Deaton (10) both added double digit outputs of their own.

The sweep helped the brought the Bison’s Summit League record to 5-1, and their overall record to and outstanding 10-2 under second year head coach Jory Collins.

Both NDSU basketball teams are set to take on Denver at the SHAC in double-headers this Friday and Saturday. Tip-off for the women’s team is at 5 p.m. both days with the men’s game following shortly after.

Luckily for both Bison teams, Denver sits at, or neat the Summit League cellar, so this weekend offers a chance to stack up wins as the conference tournament inches closer and closer