ON TAP
North Dakota heads to Syracuse-- ranked No. 18 in the AP's first poll of the season-- for a Tuesday afternoon start to the year. It marks the first of seven consecutive road tilts to tip off the campaign for the Fighting Hawks.
EXHIBITION WRAPUP
North Dakota won a pair of exhibition games to open the season, routing Bemidji State, 88-39, before a 74-58 win over Minnesota Crookston last Tuesday.
In Sunday's win over BSU, UND led by 25 at the break and saw all 12 players that dressed score, led by a 17-point, 15-rebound effort from
Lexi Klabo. Freshman
Jaclyn Jarnot scored 12 points and hauled down six boards in the win.
Tuesday, North Dakota got out to a quick 11-2 start and led 27-11 after one quarter and cruised to a 16-point win. UND had 10 assists on 10 buckets in that first quarter and turned it over just once.
The Fighting Hawks had five players score in double figures led by
Faith Dooley's 13 with 11 from fellow senior
Melissa Dailey.
Lexi Klabo,
Jill Morton and
Bailey Strand-- all seniors-- chipped in 10 points apiece for the home team.
SERIES HISTORY WITH SYRACUSE
This will mark the first matchup between the schools.
WHAT'S GOOD?
*
Lexi Klabo had 16 games of 20+ pts in 2017-18 (20 career).
*
Lexi Klabo led the Big Sky Conference with 14 double-doubles.
*Klabo became the 36th UND player to reach 1,000 career points and just the 14th to do so before her senior season.
*Klabo finished her junior season 6th in the NCAA with 189 free throws made this season. That broke UND's single-season record by 45.
*UND notched its 900th win in its program's history with the Dec. 18 win over SMSU.
*Klabo's 17 rebounds against UNC Jan. 20 tied a career high. She becomes just the sixth UND player to notch at least 17 rebounds in a game twice in a career (
Ashley Langen- 5, Jenny Crouse- 4, Mia Loyd- 3, Pam Solseth- 2, Kami Winger- 2).
*UND saw its postseason streak snapped at four straight seasons (2014- NCAA, 2015, 2016- WBI, 2017- WNIT).
PRESEASON PICK
Klabo was named to the Summit League Preseason All-First Team. She averaged 19.0 points and 9.3 rebounds last season as a Big Sky First Team as a junior.
CHERYL MILLER WATCH LIST
Lexi Klabo was one of just 20 national players named to the 2019 Cheryl Miller Award Watch List, announced in October. Klabo is among the power conferences' best at the forward position and is one of only three nominees from a mid-major school. Now in its second season, the award is given to the top small forward in all of NCAA Division I basketball.
NATIONAL NOTES
Klabo finished the year among the top 60 in a host of statistical categories last season. She etched the 6th-most free throws made in all of Division I with 189. Her 2.2 blocks per game were 32nd, her 14 double-doubles ranked 43rd, her points per game average of 19.0 was 49th while her rebounding average was at 57th (9.3).
HOW TO FOLLOW?
You can follow UND women's basketball on twitter @UNDWbasketball for in-game scores, notes and links to live stats and how to watch.
FIGHTING HAWKS ON MOBILE
Take North Dakota women's basketball with you wherever you go with the Fighting Hawks mobile app. Download it to your computer or your smart phone for free and follow your team wherever they go.
**For the entire list of notes, click on the PDF attached to this article**
