The 2024-2025 Bison Women’s basketball season kicked off on Monday with an early game against the Drake Bulldogs of the Missouri Valley conference. Drake won the Valley last season, which brought a lot of attention to this matchup on Monday morning. The Bulldogs also entered this season ranked #6 in the mid-major preseason poll for the season.
The Bison were picked #3 in the Summit League preseason poll. An interesting note about this game is that it was scheduled early in the day so that elementary schools could bring their kids to the game during the school day for a field trip. Head Coach Jory Collins told reporters that over 500 kids were at the game.
Unfortunately, the noise from the kids wouldn’t make the ultimate difference in this one. The defending Missouri Valley Conference champions defeated the Bison 78-84. The Bison got off to a hot start with a 24-16 lead after quarter one and went 4 for 6 from the 3-point line. The Bison had a really strong 2nd quarter as well, scoring another 22 points to have a 46-36 lead heading into the half. The 2nd half, though, was a much different story. Drake went on a 20-15 run in the 3rd quarter, including a 7-0 run midway through the 3rd.
The 4th quarter wasn’t much different. Drake outscored the Bison 28-17 in the 4th quarter, which also included a 15-0 run to put the dagger in the Bison and finish off a season-opening 84-78 victory for the Bulldogs. Anna Miller led Drake with 22 points and 13 rebounds. She was also 70% from the field in this contest.
For the Bison, a sophomore forward out of Montevideo, Minnesota, led the herd with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Junior Abby Graham led the Bison in time played with 32 minutes. The Bison were really good from the free-throw line. They shot 78% from the line. They were just 40% from the field, which isn’t great.
Statistically, this was a very evenly matched game, as almost every shooting statistic and rebounding statistic was similar. But what made the difference was that Drake got to the free-throw line more often than NDSU, as they were 30 for 39 from the line compared to NDSU’s 18 for 23.
Some upside of this was that they got some young players into the game. Sophomore Leah Mackenzie, Sophomore Miriley Simon, and true freshman Claire Stern all played. Freshman Marisa Frost played 24 minutes in this game and scored 8 points. Obviously, losing a game is never ideal, but considering they competed really well with a defending conference champion and got a lot of younger players’ experience, you can look at it as a win in certain ways.
Looking ahead, the Bison’s next game will be at the SHAC this Sunday at 2:00 pm against Eastern Illinois. The following Friday, they will take on Jamestown at the SHAC. Following those two non-conference games, they will head up north to Alaska for the ASRC/ConocoPhillips Great Alaska Shootout for four games. If you want to go to some women’s games this year, you should go to one of the next 2 because, after the Jamestown game, the Bison don’t return to the SHAC until December 29th over Christmas break against Dakota Wesleyan when most people won’t be on campus.
Get out to the SHAC and support the team!