North Dakota State Bison (16-9, 8-4 Summit) at Denver Pioneers (8-17, 1-11 Summit)
Denver; Thursday, 8 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Denver hosts North Dakota State after Coryn Watts scored 20 points in Denver's 80-77 loss to the Omaha Mavericks.
The Pioneers are 8-7 in home games. Denver gives up 67.2 points to opponents and has been outscored by 2.4 points per game.
The Bison are 8-4 against Summit opponents. North Dakota State ranks fifth in the Summit with 21.8 defensive rebounds per game led by Avery Koenen averaging 4.8.
Denver averages 6.9 made 3-pointers per game, 3.0 more made shots than the 3.9 per game North Dakota State gives up. North Dakota State averages 5.9 made 3-pointers per game this season, 0.5 more makes per game than Denver allows.
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting this season for the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Emma Smith is averaging 10.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Pioneers. Jojo Jones is averaging 20.5 points and 5.8 rebounds while shooting 38.4% over the past 10 games.
Molly Lenz is shooting 36.5% from beyond the arc with 1.5 made 3-pointers per game for the Bison, while averaging 8.3 points. Koenen is shooting 58.0% and averaging 16.8 points over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Pioneers: 1-9, averaging 67.1 points, 29.4 rebounds, 11.1 assists, 5.9 steals and 1.6 blocks per game while shooting 41.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.6 points per game.
Bison: 6-4, averaging 67.7 points, 29.0 rebounds, 11.3 assists, 5.6 steals and 3.2 blocks per game while shooting 43.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.6 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
