SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Summit League women’s basketball season is in the thick of it as the teams get ready to embark on the fifth week of non-conference action. The week ahead will not only see a full schedule but is highlighted with matchups against teams being talked about within the national rankings.
 
The week tips off tonight with Western Illinois at Southeast Missouri State at 5 p.m. CT and Kansas City at #24/25 Kansas State at 6:30 p.m. CT.
 
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TEAM TRACKER
DENVER PIONEERS (3-6, 0-0 SL) | @DU_WHoops
Next Up: vs. Colorado Christian (12/12; 6 p.m. MT)
Previous Game: at Wichita State (L, 61-54); at Stetson (W, 62-59); at Colorado State (84-54)
Of the Pioneers’ three games last week, they picked up a win over Stetson but fell to Wichita State and Colorado State to move to 3-6 on the season ... Against Wichita State, three Pioneers finished in double figures for points led by Emma Smith’s 19 points ... Makayla Minett followed with 10 points, six rebounds, four blocks and three steals while Jojo Jones chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds ... Smith once again paced the Pioneers in the win over Stetson dropping 24 points to go along with four rebounds, two steals and a pair of assists ... Mikayla Brown was the only other Pioneer to finish with double-digit points in the win notching a double-double of 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds ... In the loss to Colorado State, Ally Haar was the only Pioneer to finish with double-digit points ... She knocked down seven three-pointers en route to 23 points as well as dished out three assists for the Pios.
 
KANSAS CITY ROOS (3-5, 0-0 SL) | @KCRoosWBB
Next Up: at Kansas State (12/7; 6:30 p.m.); at Wyoming (12/11; 2 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: at Grand Canyon (L, 61-50)
Kansas City fell to 3-5 on the season after suffering a road loss to Grand Canyon ... In the loss, two Roos finished in double-figures for scoring led once again by E’Lease Stafford ... Stafford finished with 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting from the floor ... She also pulled down five rebounds, stole three balls and blocked a pair of shots ... Stafford has scored 20-plus points in each of the past three games, most consecutive 20-point performances by a Roo since the end of last season ... Tamia Ugass followed Stafford finishing with 12 points, six rebounds, two assists and a block ... As a squad the Roos held the Lopes to just 3-for-15 from the three-point line, going 0-for-6 in the first half.

NORTH DAKOTA FIGHTING HAWKS (5-3, 0-0 SL) | @UNDwbasketball
Next Up: vs. Weber State (12/10; 1 p.m. CT); vs. Mayville State (12/12; 6 p.m. CT)
Previous Games: vs. Wisconsin-Superior (W, 77-30); at Eastern Michigan (W, 79-73)
North Dakota picked up two wins over Wisconsin-Superior and Eastern Michigan to improve to 5-3 on the season ... Kacie Borowicz paced the Fighting Hawks through the two games averaging 23.0, 4.0 apg, 3.5 rpg and 1.5 spg ... Against Wisconsin-Superior, every Fighting Hawk scored at least one point in the win, led by Borowicz finishing with 12 points, three assists and a pair of steals in 18 minutes of action ... Juliet Gordon was the only other Fighting Hawk to finish in double-digits for scoring as she finished with 10 points and pulled down four rebounds ... Defensively, Nakiyah Hurst led UND pulling down a team-best seven rebounds in the win ... Against Eastern Michigan, Borowicz recorded 34 points on 10-for-19 shooting, just missing her career-high by one point ... Claire Orth matched her season-best finishing with 16 points on 7-for-13 from the field while pulling down five rebounds ... Gordon rounded out the double-figure scorers finishing with 10 points and eight rebounds.
 
NORTH DAKOTA STATE BISON (6-3, 0-0 SL) | @NDSUwbb
Next Up: at Green Bay (12/10; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: at Eastern Michigan (L, 73-55); at Central Michigan (L, 66-65); at Northern Iowa (L, 79-70)
The Bison have moved to 6-3 on the season after suffering three road losses to Eastern Micigan, Central Michigan and Northern Iowa ... Elle Evans led the efforts against Eastern Michigan scoring a team-best 14 points on 4-for-6 shooting from behind the arc and pulling down seven rebounds ... Emily Behnke followed contributing 10 points of her own, five rebounds, an assist and a steal ... A trio of Bison finished with double digit scoring efforts in a tough 66-65 loss to Central Michigan ... Evans once again led the team with 17 points, five rebounds and five assists ... Behnke finished with the first double-double of her career ... She tallied a career-high 15 points on 7-for-11 shooting and pulled down 10 rebounds ... Heaven Hamling rounded out the double-digit scoring efforts finishing with 11 points ...  Against Northern Iowa, four Bison reached double figures in the scoring column led by Behnke’s double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds ... Hamling recorded 14 points while Evans (12) and Abby Schulte (11) rounded out the double-digit scorers.
 
OMAHA MAVERICKS (4-4, 0-0 SL) | @OmahaWBB
Next Up: at RV Mizzou (12/9; 11:30 a.m. CT); vs. Saint Mary (12/11; 2:05 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: at Pepperdine (W, 56-51); at CSU Bakersfield (L, 69-68)
The Mavericks moved to 4-4 on the season after splitting the week’s competition ... Omaha gritted out a 56-51 victory at Pepperdine but dropped a tough one-point loss to CSU Bakersfield (69-68) ... Elena Pilakouta paced the Mavericks against Pepperdine dropping 15 points on 7-for-13 shooting as well as grabbing a team-best eight rebounds ... Kennedi Grant finished with 14 points and a career-high six steals in the win ... Grace Cave rounded out the double-digit scoring trio as she finished with 10 points and four assists ... Grant led the offensive efforts against CSU Bakersfield as the only Maverick to reach double-figures ... She finished with a career-high-tying 17 points while going 7-for-9 from the charity stripe ... Grant also led the defensive efforts pulling down a team-best eight rebounds ... Following Grant’s scoring efforts were Jaylen Townsend and Aaliyah Stanley who each finished with nine points.
 
ORAL ROBERTS GOLDEN EAGLES (2-7, 0-0 SL) | @ORUWBB
Next Up: at Abilene Christian (12/11; 2 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: at RV/RV Arkansas (L, 92-58)
Oral Roberts dropped to 2-7 on the season after suffering a road loss to RV/RV Arkansas ... In the loss, a trio of Golden Eagles finished in double figures led by Tirzah Moore’s double-double ... She finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season ... Hannah Cooper followed Moore pouring in 15 points, four assists, four steals and three rebounds ... Ariel Walker chipped in 13 points of her own to go along with five rebounds and a pair of steals ... As a squad, the Golden Eagles turned the ball over a season-low seven times and capitalized on 10 second-chance points.
 
ST. THOMAS TOMMIES (3-4, 0-0 SL) | @TommieWBBall
Next Up: vs. Purdue Fort Wayne (12/8; 7 p.m. CT); at Wisconsin (12/11; 1 p.m. CT)
Previous Games:  at Utah Valley (W, 62-43); at Idaho State (L, 58-54 OT)
The Tommies split the week’s competition to move to 3-4 on the season after picking up a win over Utah Valley but dropping a tough overtime loss to Idaho State ... In the victory over Utah Valley, the Tommies were led by Sammy Opichka who recorded 18 points, four assists and two steals in the win ... Amber Scalia followed Opichka’s offensive efforts finishing with nine points of her own while Jo Langbehn and Jade Hill each finished with eight apiece ... In the loss to Idaho State, Langbehn paced the team with a career-high 14 points to go along with six rebounds and three steals ... Maggie Negaard finished with 11 points, six rebounds and a team-best four assists in the loss ... Hill rounded out the double-figure scorers as she notched 10 points, four rebounds, a pair of assists and two steals.
 
SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES (4-5, 0-0 SL) | @SDCoyotesWBB
Next Up: vs. Montana (12/11; 12 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: at Northern Colorado (L, 72-65); vs. Drake (L, 83-54)
South Dakota is now 4-5 after falling to Northern Colorado and Drake ... Against Northern Colorado Grace Larkins dropped a career-high 30 points and eight rebounds to pace the Coyotes ... She was 11-for-12 from the free throw line and 8-for-17 from the floor in the loss ... Morgan Hansen was the only other Coyote with double-digit points finishing with 10 points ... The duo reached double-figures in the scoring column again against Drake ... Larkins once again led the team with 13 points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal ... Hansen followed with 10 points, four rebounds, two blocks and an assist.
 
RV SOUTH DAKOTA STATE JACKRABBITS (5-4, 0-0 SL) | @GoJacksWBB
Next Up: at #24/ Kansas State (12/10; 1 p.m. CT); vs. UT Martin (12/12; 6 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: at Montana State (L, 71-66); vs. Northern Iowa (W, 80-69)
South Dakota State moved to 5-4 on the season after suffering a road loss to Montana State but bouncing back and defeating Northern Iowa ... Despite overcoming an 18-point deficit, SDSU couldn’t overcome Montana State ... The offensive effort was paced by Paiton Burckhard’s 18 points and nine rebounds ... Haleigh Timmer finished with 12 points in the loss while Myah Selland notched 11 points and six rebounds ... The Jacks shot 43 percent from the field against the Panthers en route to victory led by Selland’s 19 points on 8-for-11 shooting ... Timmer followed Selland with 14 points and four rebounds while Burckhard chipped a double-double of 13 points and a game-best 12 rebounds ... Dru Gylten rounded out the double-figure scoring efforts finishing with 11 points and a team-best seven assists.
 
WESTERN ILLINOIS LEATHERNECKS (2-5, 0-0 SL) | @WIUWBB
Next Up:  at SEMO (12/7; 5 p.m. CT); vs. Valparaiso (12/9; 6 p.m. CT); vs. SIUE (12/11; 2 p.m. CT)
Previous Game: vs. Tarleton State (L, 84-69); vs. Eureka College (W, 86-54)
After falling to Tarleton State the Leathernecks picked up their second win of the season over Eureka College ... Against Tarleton, two Leathernecks finished in double-figure points led by Jada Thorpe’s 18 points ... Thorpe went 7-for-7 from the free throw line while she also dished out three assists and pulled down two rebounds ... Zareia Chevre followed with 15 points on 4-for-7 shooting from the floor as well as six rebounds ... In the win over Eureka College, a trio of Leathernecks scored in double figures led by Lily Randgaard’s 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the floor ... Chevre and Thorpe followed finishing with 11 points apiece ... Chevre pulled down five rebounds and stole two balls in the win ... Alissa Dins led the defensive efforts against Eureka pulling down a game-high 12 rebounds.