When North Dakota State athletics made the transition to Division l athletics in 2004 the women’s basketball program was arguably the strongest program in the stable. Before the transition, the Bison women were a powerhouse in Division II as they won five national championships under the leadership of legendary head coach Amy Ruley. However, after Amy Ruley retired in 2009 the program fell off to the point where they were unrecognizable from its past glory, so I pose the question, “How did NDSU women’s basketball take 19 years to get a Summit League title game”?
Before D-1
In the mid-80s NDSU women’s basketball hired Amy Ruley as head coach and with her masterful coaching and recruiting she had them winning national championships by 1991. Ruley won five national championships including four in a row from 1993-1996. Her teams were always stocked with talent such as Kasey Morlock, Nadine Schmidt, Jody Buck, Jenni Rademacher, and Lynette Mund. By 2004 Ruley’s teams were just as dominant as they posted a 26-1 season in their first year in transition.
D-1 Struggles
When NDSU announced its transition to Division I athletics in 2004 local media and the athletic department figured that women’s basketball would continue to be successful, but after Amy Ruley’s retirement following the 2008-09 season, it seemed like the program left with her as under new head coach Carolyn Dehoff the Bison posted just two winning seasons before her firing in 2014. In 2015 athletic director Matt Larson hired Maren Walseth to be the new head coach, and it was a disaster as Walseth posted a losing record in each of her five seasons. She failed to win a Summit League tournament game and even failed to qualify for the Summit League tournament in 2019.
The Jory Collins Effect
Following the 2019 season, NDSU hired Kansas assistant Jory Collins to be the savior of the women’s basketball program. Collins had an impressive track record as he won 199 games at Emporia State and guided the program to consistent 20-win seasons and deep DII tournament runs every year before leaving for Kansas and then the NDSU job. Collins was known for his recruiting and his first-ever recruit was a guard named Heaven Hamling. Hamling has become the cornerstone of this year’s team as she is a savvy point guard with range as well as her abilities to pass and has the toughness to match. With the addition of Hamling as well as the post-presence of Emily Dietz, the Bison won a Summit League tournament game in March of 2020 beating #3 Denver before losing to top-seeded SDSU in the semis. Collins continued the reconstruction of the program with a 15-win season win in the Covid season and then an 18-win season two seasons later that included a second-place finish in the Summit League. The second-place finish was the school’s highest finish since joining the league. This season has been the best in the D-1 era as behind the dynamic duo of Hamling and superstar Elle Evans the Bison have won 21 games the most since the 2004-05 season. Jory’s team was the #1 three-point shooting team in the conference as well as finished second in the Summit League yet again. This time however NDSU won their first two tournament games beating #7 Denver and #3 Oral Roberts to advance to the Summit League championship game for the first time ever. The Bison will have to go through top-seeded South Dakota State for the right to advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time in the Division I era. No matter what happens in the championship game in Sioux Falls on Tuesday this has been a season to remember and proves that the reconstruction of the women’s basketball program is complete.