UND Women’s Basketball Releases 2015-2016 Schedule

Fourth-year head women’s basketball coach Travis Brewster officially announced his team’s 2015-16 schedule, a slate that includes 31  games, including 16 at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.

“We’ve got some quality opponents on our schedule again,” Brewster said. “Our non-conference schedule includes some teams that play an exciting brand of basketball.”

The schedule opens with a pair of exhibition tilts at home against Mayville State (Nov. 1) and Minnesota Crookston (Nov. 8) before UND hits the road to Iowa for a tournament against the host Hawkeyes and Tennessee-Martin to lift the lid on the regular season.

After a visit from Nebraska-Omaha on Nov. 17 in the regular season home opener, UND heads back to Iowa for a Nov. 22 contest against Drake before embarking on a Thanksgiving weekend trip to San Francisco (Nov. 25) and Oregon (Nov. 28).

The month of December will see four straight home games, all against regional opponents. Northern Iowa opens the homestand Dec. 5 then three consecutive matchups against Summit League opponents begins Dec. 8 against Western Illinois. Rival North Dakota State invades the Betty on Dec. 12th with South Dakota a week later. The non-conference schedule wraps up with a Dec. 23 date at Minnesota.

“Keeping a tough non-conference schedule helps us prepare for that Big Sky schedule,” Brewster said. “This schedule will test our team right away, newcomers won’t get to be newcomers for long. The team will need to keep their heads and stay together on the floor, this will test the leadership abilities of the upperclassmen. It’s an exciting schedule for our fans– that’s very important– while also trying to develop the team with eight new faces, to embrace the process for the long haul, which is the ultimate goal.”

UND’s fourth season in the Big Sky Conference sees another challenging mix of games against the other 11 league schools. North Dakota will play host to all of the other schools except for Sacramento State and Portland State while making the trip to every Big Sky venue except Northern Arizona and Southern Utah for the 18-game league slate.

The highlights include the opener on New Year’s Eve at Idaho in the first Big Sky Conference tilt played in Moscow, Idaho between the schools. The annual trek to the Montana schools comes Jan. 14-16 with the Bobcats of Montana State leading off the trip and the defending league champion Lady Griz the opponent on Jan. 16.

“Each game we play is going to require three things that we can control: our excellent attitude, effort and concentration,” Brewster said.

The Big Sky Conference has relocated its postseason tournament to a neutral site, signing a three-year agreement to bring both men’s and women’s championships to Reno, Nev. All 12 men’s and all 12 women’s teams from the conference will participate in the championship with dates and tournament format announced at a later date.

“I’m excited about the tournament in Reno,” Brewster said. “Looking ahead, everyone’s in the same boat there. We need to keep progressing in the regular season right into the tournament.”

Season tickets are on sale now and start at only $90. Fans can purchase tickets by contacting Paul Adelman, Director of Ticket Sales, at 701-777-4582 or emailing him at paul.adelman@athletics.und.edu.

2015-16 UND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
Nov 1    MAYVILLE STATE (exh)
Nov 8    MINNESOTA-CROOKSTON (exh)
Nov 13    at Iowa
Nov 14    vs Tennessee-Martin
Nov 17    NEBRASKA-OMAHA
Nov 22    at Drake
Nov 25    at San Francisco
Nov 28    at Oregon
Dec 5    NORTHERN IOWA
Dec 8    WESTERN ILLINOIS
Dec 12    NORTH DAKOTA STATE
Dec 19    SOUTH DAKOTA
Dec 23    at Minnesota
Dec 31    at Idaho
Jan 2    at Eastern Washington
Jan 7    WEBER STATE
Jan 9    IDAHO STATE
Jan 14    at Montana State
Jan 16    at Montana
Jan 21    NORTHERN ARIZONA
Jan 23    SOUTHERN UTAH
Jan 30    NORTHERN COLORADO
Feb 4    at Idaho State
Feb 6    at Weber State
Feb 11    EASTERN WASHINGTON
Feb 13    IDAHO
Feb 20    at Northern Colorado
Feb 25    at Portland State
Feb 27    at Sacramento State
Mar 2    MONTANA
Mar 4    MONTANA STATE
Mar 9-12    Big Sky Conference Tournament (Reno, Nev.)

BY THE NUMBERS
*UND is 136-28 (.829) all-time at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (since 2004)
*UND leads the all-time series with NDSU, 43-33, including all three matchups in Division I play (90-87 overtime win last season in Fargo).
*North Dakota holds a 21-8 (.724) record at home in Big Sky Conference games in its three seasons.
*Since transitioning to NCAA Division I, UND holds a 121-95 (.560) record in seven seasons.

Courtesy UND