Another game to Go-pher
Players feel prepared for No. 12 Minnesota
After last Saturday’s heroics from NDSU, anything seems possible in Bisonland.
Could there be another Bison team to pull off the unimaginable? The Bison women are thinking “why not?”
Head coach Amy Ruley will take her basketball team to Minneapolis Thursday to take on the Gophers in an anticipated matchup for a growing team.
The Bison will face a program that has been to two straight sweet sixteens, is currently ranked No. 12 in the latest ESPN/USA Today poll and has sent two players to the WNBA in the past five years.
As of Sunday’s standings, Minnesota is in third place in the Big Ten conference. Their latest action was a 28-point thumping of the University of Michigan. They will face the University of Iowa before hosting the Bison.
“ We’re going to spend the next few days studying hard,” senior guard Katie Lorenz said. “Everyone on their team is capable of having a big game.”
The Gophers are led in scoring by standout Jamie Broback and Liz Podominick with 12 and 10.3 points per game respectively.
Ruley, who played college basketball for Purdue University, is another Big Ten member excited for the upcoming game.
“ We really appreciate the opportunity to play a team like the Gophers,” Ruley said.
“ We feel that we are capable of winning this game, we just need to prepare well and play hard.”
Minnesota is not the first Division I nationally ranked opponent that NDSU will face.
“ We played well against New Mexico who beat up on Minnesota,” Ruley said. “So we feel that we can be competitive in this game.”
NDSU lost by 16 points in a hostile environment to No. 18 University of New Mexico.
Minnesota received a similar thrashing in a visit to Albuquerque, N.M., in a 62-44 loss 11 days earlier.
Lorenz echoed the sentiments of the rest of the team when asked about playing on this kind of stage.
“ As a kid you dream about playing in games like this, of playing the big teams in the big arenas,” Lorenz said. “The men’s team is getting a pep rally after their huge win, we want to have one too.”