North Dakota State set a standard of excellence on the women's basketball court during this time period, which has been unmatched ... The Bison won the 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996 NCAA Division II national championships under the direction of Women's Basketball Hall of Fame head coach
Amy Ruley and assistant coach
Kelli Layman ... NDSU started the run with a convincing 95-63 win over Delta State on the road at Waltham, Mass., in 1993 ... While the tournament shifted from four to eight teams at the final stop, NDSU hosted the first Elite Eight in 1994 and downed upstart Cal State-San Bernardino 89-56 ... The Bison capped off a perfect 32-0 season in 1995 with a fast-paced 98-85 victory over Portland State ... NDSU set sail and defeated Shippensburg, Pa., 104-78 in 1996 ... NDSU won 21 straight NCAA tournament games ... Ten (10) members of the combined 30-player roster during that time period would become members of the Bison 1,000-point club ... The head coach and five players from that group have been inducted into the Bison Athletic Hall of Fame, with the sixth player joining the group this year ... NDSU won 93 percent of the time and rolled up a 119-9 overall record over that span, 30-2 in 1995-96, 32-0 in 1994-95, 27-5 in 1993-94 and 30-2 in 1992-93 ... The 1994-95 Bison team was the only NCAA Division II women's basketball team to post an unblemished record until Bentley College achieved perfection in 2013-14 ... NDSU is one of only 18 NCAA women's basketball teams at any Division to go undefeated ... NDSU's 49 consecutive victories still ranks second all-time in NCAA Division II women's basketball after being No. 1 for over a decade ... The Bison also have the third best 42 straight wins that started in January 1996 ... NDSU went 66-6 in North Central Conference play, claiming three conference championships ... The Bison won 27 straight NCC games from 1994 to 1996 ... Thanks to outstanding fan support, NDSU led Division II women's basketball in attendance each of those seasons .... It was the early stages of a nine-year run as NDSU led Division II in attendance 12 times overall ... The Bison were 58-2 at home from 1992 to 1996 .... Six of NDSU's top 10 Bison Sports Arena crowds were chronicled over that time, including the school and Division II women's basketball record of 7,543 against North Dakota on Feb. 23, 1996 .... NDSU has the top four Division II women's basketball attendance figures in the record books ... While the focus was on the team, there were many individual honors highlighted by Kasey Morlock (1995, 1996), Darci Steere (1994) and Nadine Schmidt (1993), who picked up NCAA Division II National Championship Most Outstanding Player awards ... Jody Buck (1993), Steere (1994) and Morlock (1995, 1996) were selected Kodak Division II All-Americans ... Steere (1994) and Morlock (1995) earned North Central Conference Player of the Year honors, while Buck (1993), Linda Davis (1995) and Jen Rademacher (1996) were selected NCC Defensive Player of the Year ... Rademacher would be a top 10 finalist for the 1995-96 NCAA Woman of the Year.
