GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Due to its recent success on the court, OmniRankings.com has listed the University of North Dakota women’s basketball team No. 1 among NCAA Division I “Teams on the rise”. The Fighting Sioux began their move up the ladder following a 90-72 win at home over Western Kentucky (Jan. 10). That win sparked UND’s current four-game winning streak.

According to the Omni Rankings founder Matt Olson, “The ‘teams on the rise’ are the schools whose ratings have improved most over their past three games.  The wins over Utah Valley, South Dakota, and particularly Western Kentucky vaulted UND up the list. In fact, the mathematical model suggests the Western Kentucky win was UND’s best performance of the season.”

Prior to the win over WKU, the Sioux held a 37.31 rating. The win over the Toppers garnered a 52.76 single-game rating and propelled them into their current  rating of 43.76.

UND ranks 230 among 343 DI teams and are ranked 153rd in strength of schedule.

Olson is a Northwestern University alumnus with an academic and professional background in engineering and journalism. For more than 20 years, he’s attempted to apply a scientific approach and sports sensibility to a pursuit doomed to fail: Forecasting the performance of hundreds of simultaneously evolving teams in activities played, coached, and officiated by humans.

Olson, a Minnesota native, is no stranger to the Grand Forks area as he formerly did work with WDAZ/WDAY.

For more information regarding the Omni Rankings, visit www.omnirankings.com.

– Go Sioux –