PREVIEW: Bulldog Women's Basketball Hosts Hillsdale & Travels To SVSU This Week

This Week's Action: The Ferris State University women's basketball team begins a busy stretch of Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play with a pair of contests this week. FSU first hosts Hillsdale on Thursday (Jan. 29) evening starting at 6 p.m. (ET) inside FSU's Jim Wink Arena. The Bulldogs then visit Saginaw Valley State on Saturday (Jan. 31) with tipoff set for 1 p.m. (ET) in University Center, Mich.

Media Coverage: Both games will be broadcast locally by Sunny 97.3 FM and the Bulldog Sports Network. Rob Bentley and Sandy Gholston will call the action. In addition, a live audio broadcast will be accessible from FSU for both games along with an HD pay-per-view video webcast for Thursday's home tilt. For a full listing of links, including live internet stats, please visit FerrisStateBulldogs.com.

Follow On Twitter/Facebook: In addition to internet coverage, Bulldog fans can also follow all games this season via Twitter and Facebook with updates. Please visit www.facebook.com/FerrisWBasketball or www.twitter.com/FerrisWBBALL to follow the periodic posts and tweet-by-tweet coverage with scoring updates.

Welcome Back: The Bulldogs posted a 10-14 overall record a year ago under head coach Colleen Lamoreaux-Tate, but won four of their last five games on the year. Ferris State welcomes back 11 squad members from a year ago, giving FSU a deeper and experienced unit in its third season under Lamoreaux-Tate's direction.

The Lineup: This season, the Bulldogs have returned seven players who received at least five starts a year ago, including senior guard Destiney Robinson, junior guard Katie Mavis, senior forward Kara Hess, senior guard Dena Droste, senior forward Heidi Highstreet, junior center Christina Branch and senior center Hannah Hoffman. Additionally, the returnees include a three-year letterwinner with significant experience in senior forward Ashley Rando, who missed all of last year due to injury. The other returnees back for the women's team include sophomore guards Emily Evans and Ally Christman in addition to sophomore forward Kendra Enszer. FSU added a pair of incoming freshmen along with a junior college transfer in the offseason.

Back Two Years: Two years ago, the Bulldog women posted a 13-13 overall mark during head coach Colleen Lamoreaux-Tate's first season at the helm in 2012-13 despite battling injuries most of the year. FSU finished with a 12-10 mark in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play while reaching the conference tournament for the 14th time in program history.

Double-Digit Wins: Last year's double-digit win total marked the 17th time in the last 18 seasons in which the Bulldog women have won 10 games or more in a single season. FSU is only two wins shy of reaching the 10-win mark for the 18th time in the last 19 years.
   
The Records: Ferris State (8-7, 6-6 GLIAC) split a pair of league home contests inside Jim Wink Arena last week. FSU fell to Northwood 84-60 on Thursday (Jan. 22) evening, but bounced back with a big second-half to beat Lake Superior State 62-55 on Saturday (Jan. 24) in league play.
   
Hillsdale (10-6, 6-6 GLIAC) has an identical league record to FSU heading into Thursday's key league tilt. The Chargers, under longtime head coach Claudettte Charney, are 5-1 away from home this season, but dropped a pair of home contests last week and are coming off a 57-54 home loss to Northern Michigan on Saturday (Jan. 31).

Saginaw Valley State (6-12, 1-11 GLIAC) has dropped five-straight games and seven of its last eight overall under head coach Jamie Pewinski heading into Thursday's league road tilt at Grand Valley State. The Cardinals fell to Michigan Tech 69-61 at home last Saturday (Jan. 24).

Did You Know: Heading into this weekend's action, the Ferris State men's and women's basketball teams own one of the best combined overall records of any school in the GLIAC at 17-7 in league action to date this year. Along with the GLIAC Championship football and volleyball teams this past fall, the Bulldogs are a combined 44-8 against the conference in the four sports combined this 2014-15 athletics season.

Series History: Ferris State holds a 35-24 series' edge entering Thursday's game against Hillsdale, but fell 79-75 last year (1/4/14) in the lone game between the two schools in Big Rapids. Previously, FSU recorded a 76-63 road win two years ago (2012-13) in regular-season play. The Bulldogs beat the Chargers 61-51 three years ago at Wink Arena (2/22/12). Overall, the Chargers have won 11 of the last 21 series' meetings to date.

The Cardinals hold a 46-34 advantage entering Saturday's 81st encounter. FSU has won 22 of the last 31 meetings, but the Cardinals took both games in 2012-13 before the two teams split a pair of games late last season. SVSU recorded wins of 73-70 in overtime (1/26) in University Center followed by 71-66 in Big Rapids (2/23) in the 2012-13 campign. A year ago, FSU won the first meeting 83-75 in University Center (2/22/14) before the Cardinals captured a 82-71 triumph in overtime in the regular-season finale at FSU's Jim Wink Arena (3/1/14). The Bulldogs had lost six consecutive games on the road at Saginaw Valley State prior to their 2011-12 victory at O'Neill Arena, but have since won two of the last three in University Center.

The Head Coach: Ferris State – Colleen Lamoreaux-Tate (Aquinas), 3rd season, 31-34 (.477) - (1-1 vs. HC & 1-3 vs. SVSU).  A veteran coach with 27 years of experience on the sidelines and regarded as one of the state's top prep coaches prior to her FSU arrival two years ago, Lamoreaux-Tate spent the previous seven years as the varsity girls basketball coach at Grand Rapids Catholic Central High School where she guided the Cougars to a 167-19 cumulative record prior to her appointment as Ferris State's head coach in June 2012.

Preseason Listing: Ferris State was chosen to finish seventh in the 2014-15 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) North Division Preseason Poll. Northern Michigan and Wayne State were voted divisional favorites for the 2014-15 GLIAC Women's Basketball season. In the North Division, NMU was picked first in the 2014-15 GLIAC Preseason Women's Basketball Poll with 13 first-place votes and 124 points. Michigan Tech was selected second with three first-place votes and 111 points. In third place was Grand Valley State with 77 points and three votes, Saginaw Valley State was fourth with 73 points, Hillsdale was fifth with 67 points, Northwood was sixth with 60 points, FSU came in seventh with 46 points and Lake Superior State was eighth with 18 points.

Preseason All-GLIAC: Ferris State junior forward/center Christina Branch (Grand Rapids/West Michigan Lutheran) was chosen to the Preseason All-GLIAC North Division Second Team as announced by the league office. Branch was the 2011-12 GLIAC Freshman of the Year after helping FSU to the NCAA Division II Tournament in her initial season, but missed all of 2012-13 due to injury before coming back last season.

Lost All-American: Ferris State lost only a single senior from last year's team in three-time All-America guard Sarah DeShone, a native of Elkhart, Ind. Last year marked the third consecutive year in which DeShone also claimed first team All-GLIAC status.  She received WBCA Honorable Mention All-America honors each of the last three seasons and was also chosen as a Division II Women's Basketball All-American her final season. Currently, she's serving this season as a student assistant coach on the Bulldog staff.

Assistant Coach Back: Ferris State head coach Colleen Lamoreaux-Tate returns her full-time assistant coach on the sidelines this season as Shea Mead is back for his second campaign. He previously spent two seasons as a graduate assistant coach in the women's basketball program at NCAA Division I Central Michigan.  The Chippewas made the school's first NCAA Tournament appearance in 29 years in 2012-13 and won the Mid-American Conference Tournament while registering their third-straight 20-plus win campaign under head coach Sue Guevara. A Grand Rapids native, Mead competed on the prep level at Grand Rapids Catholic Central High School during Lamoreaux-Tate's stint as the Cougars' head girls coach.

Bulldog Tradition: The Ferris State women's basketball program is midst its 40th season of varsity competition and has compiled a 514-519 (.497) all-time mark. The Bulldogs won their first previous GLIAC crown, advanced to their first NCAA-II Regional Tournament and recorded the nation's highest grade point average in 1999-2000. FSU, which claimed GLIAC Tourney runner-up honors for the third time in 2011-12, has posted 10 wins or more in 17 of the last 18 seasons.

The Bulldog Roster: Ferris' 2014-15 roster includes four seniors, four juniors, four sophomores and two freshmen. Seven of the 15 players are primarily backcourt players while the remaining eight are forwards or centers. Eleven of the 14 players on the Bulldogs' roster hail from Michigan with one each from Indiana and Ohio along with junior college transfer Natalia Bukur of Russia, who spent last season at Kirtland CC.

Bulldog Notes: Ferris State is midsst a busy stretch of action as the Bulldogs will visit archrival Grand Valley State on Monday (Feb. 2) evening after Saturday's game at Saginaw Valley State. FSU then returns home to host Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan next week (Feb. 5 & 7) ....... Senior Kara Hess is in her third season with the women's basketball team after originally beginning her career as a volleyball student-athlete at Ferris State. Two years ago, she competed in both sports before focusing on basketball.
 
Third In Nation: Ferris State sophomore guard Ally Christman currently ranks third in the nation this week in free throw percentage at 91.3% on the year. She's tops among all GLIAC players and only shy of national leader Annie Armstrong (95.4%) of Drury in the Midwest Region.

All-GLIAC Honoree: Ferris State's Christina Branch was a second-team All-GLIAC honoree and the GLIAC Freshman of the Year in 2011-12.  Branch also claimed GLIAC All-Defensive Team recognition the same season.

GLIAC Tournament Berth: Ferris State made its 14th consecutive GLIAC Tournament appearance in the first campaign under head coach Colleen Lamoreaux-Tate in 2012-13 before narrowly missing the field last year.  The Bulldogs had advanced to the semifinals in each of their four previous trips prior to the 2012-13 campaign, but suffered a narrow 68-59 road loss to Wayne State in the quarterfinal round at the Matthaei Complex in Detroit in her initial season at the helm.

Sunny 97.3: Nearly all 2014-15 Bulldog conference games will be carried live thru a broadcast partnership between FSU Athletics and Sunny 97.3 FM.  Rob Bentley and Sandy Gholston will call the action starting with the "Bulldog Pregame" show a half-hour prior to tipoff.  Sunny 97.3 and the Bulldog Sports Network will carry a majority of the home and away basketball contests this campaign with the broadcasts streamed live online at www.FerrisStateBulldogs.com.

Bulldog Sports Network: Fans can follow all the action of Ferris State Basketball live online via the Bulldog Sports Network multimedia portal again this season.  A live audio and video pay-per-view webcast in HD will be offered for nearly all home games with free audio for road conference contests.  The package also includes live stats, live chat and a live blog at select times. Visit www.FerrisStateBulldogs.com for more info.

Home Ticket Information: Single-game tickets for the 2014-15 home campaign are currently on sale now.  Fans are encouraged to buy tickets in advance this season. For more info on ticket sales, please contact the FSU Athletics Ticket Office at (231) 591-2888 or visit www.FerrisStateBulldogs.com.

More Media Coverage: Ferris State Basketball will be featured throughout the year as part of the "Bulldog Sports Update", which will air Monday thru Friday at 7:30 a.m. (ET) on Sunny 97.3 FM.  Additionally, head coach Colleen Lamoreaux-Tate and selected student-athletes will make periodic weekly appearances during the season on the Ferris Sports Update TV show, which is available across Northern Michigan on Fox 32 along with Comcast Xfinitiy in Michigan and other sources, including online at FerrisStateBulldogs.com.

Live Internet Stats: "Live Stats" of all 2014-15 Ferris State games will be provided in progress via the internet. Visit the site at www.FerrisStateBulldogs.com and click the "Live Stats" icon to access.