NDSU Bison Women’s Basketball Announces 2013-2014 Schedule

FARGO, N.D. - Bison women’s basketball will face eight teams that advanced to postseason action last season in their 29 game regular season schedule released Wednesday morning by sixth season head coach Carolyn DeHoff.

The schedule will feature 14 home games, including a non-conference tilt with SEC member Mississippi State and Missouri Valley Conference member Northern Iowa to go along with 12 other games in the friendly confines of the Bison Sports Arena.

“We like the competition we have created in our non-conference schedule,” DeHoff said. “We will face five of the eight teams that advanced to postseason last year in our non-conference schedule.”

The Bison will open their season with a pair of exhibition games against Minnesota Crookston and Concordia Moorhead at the Bison Sports Arena Oct. 30 and Nov. 2 before hosting Mayville for the regular season opener Nov. 8.

North Dakota State will then travel to the northeastern United States to face Maine and Harvard Nov. 14 and 16.

They will then return home for a single game against Northern Iowa Nov. 20 before opening up a seven game road trip beginning Nov. 23 at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and concluding Dec.14 at North Dakota. Between those two dates the Bison will participate in the Loyola-Marymount Tournament in Los Angeles, Calif. as well as the Air Force Academy Tournament in Colorado Springs, Colo., traveling a total of 5,616 miles.

NDSU will play host to Mississippi State Dec. 17 then participate in the University of Texas-San Antonio tournament to close out 2013 Dec. 28-29.

“Our goal is to prepare our players for the rigors of conference play, both at home and on the road, and we feel that the [non-conference] schedule we have put in place will do that for our players,” DeHoff said.

The Bison will open 2014 with three straight games at the Bison Sports Arena beginning Jan. 2 against Northern Colorado. Fort Wayne will mark The Summit League opener for NDSU Jan. 9 before IUPUI, a WNIT participant last season, comes to Fargo to close out the home stand Jan. 11.

“This year’s conference schedule will be one of the strongest we’ve seen in this league,” DeHoff said. “From top to bottom, there are a number of teams that can and will compete for the conference crown.”

NDSU travels to Nebraska-Omaha and Western Illinois Jan. 16 and 18 before hosting Valley City in a non-conference game Jan. 22 and then continues Summit League play by welcoming South Dakota State and South Dakota to the Bison Sports Arena Jan. 25 and 30.

Denver will come to the Bison Sports Arena the first day of February before NDSU takes a trip to IUPUI and Fort Wayne Feb. 6 and 8. North Dakota State will then host Western Illinois and Nebraska-Omaha in the final home regular season games of the year Feb. 13 and 15. The Bison close out the regular season at South Dakota State Feb. 22, at South Dakota Feb. 27 and at Denver March 1

“We’re excited about the direction the league is going and the fans will see some outstanding competitive games this season,” DeHoff said.