The Drake women’s basketball team started its 2024-25 season with an 84-78 victory at North Dakota State on Monday.

The Bulldogs were led by Anna Miller’s 22-point, 13-rebound performance. Katie Dinnebier added 19 points and six assists. Courtney Becker scored 13 points and pulled down nine rebounds.

Abbie Aalsma, a transfer from Illinois State, scored 12 points in her Drake debut.

The Bulldogs outscored the Bison 28-17 in the fourth quarter to rally for the victory. Drake plays host to Saint Louis on Thursday at the Knapp Center.

GRAND FORKS – The North Dakota Museum of Art, located on the UND campus, is hosting its 27th Annual Autumn Art Auction on Saturday, Nov. 9.

Fifty-four works of art by artists from throughout the region and beyond will be auctioned by professional auctioneer David Gorder, Grand Forks.

The auction is the museum’s largest fundraiser; proceeds fund the Summer Art Camps, Family Day, exhibitions, concerts and much more. It features artists who have exhibited at the museum in the past, along with artists who are new to the museum and the auction.

Tickets are $50 per person. Free parking is available next to the museum.

For tickets or information on live or absentee bidding, call (701) 777-4195 or go to

www.ndmoa.com/autumn-art-auction

.

The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. with hors d’oeuvres, provided by area restaurants, along with beer and wine. A wine and beer cash bar will also be available.

The live auction begins at 8 p.m.

More than 30 local businesses are supporting this auction, according to the event announcement. The social will feature food donated by Blue Moose Bar and Grill, Ely’s Ivy, Ground Round, Little Bangkok and the Museum Cafe.

The artwork will be displayed on the Mezzanine Gallery for up-close viewing before the auction. Then, all artworks will be brought down to the stage in the main gallery for the live auction.

After the auction concludes, winning bidders can claim and take the artwork home or make other arrangements.

Each year, the museum produces a full-color catalog that highlights the auction artwork. It includes images, descriptions and information about each artist. The full catalog and list of sponsors can be viewed at

www.ndmoa.com/autumn-art-auction

.

The North Dakota Museum of Art launched the auction in 1999 as a means to develop a market for artists in the region and to fund museum programs.

All proceeds from the sale of art are split between the artists and the museum, unless the artist chooses to donate the entire sale to the museum, said Brian Loftus, director of membership and marketing.

The museum is located on Centennial Drive on campus. Regular museum hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. There is no general admission; however, a donation of $5 for adults and pocket change for children is suggested.

The Museum Cafe is open for lunch weekdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a happy hour from 3 to 5 p.m. For more information, call the museum at (701) 777-4195 or go to

www.ndmoa.com

.

Weekends mean nothing to a sportswriter without work. We don’t even technically know what they are, until around the end of May, but sports keep us out of trouble.

Sometimes.

With big Saturday plans — and the kickoff of going up to Killdeer to cover the Class A North Dakota quarterfinals — the game started at a breakfast-ish 12:30 slot and an opportunity to have a little “weekend fun” on the back-end of the game at roughly 4 pm on a Saturday: Ideal timeframe for an early bout of postgame amusement.

Like an idiot I wore cowboy-boots, because I look great in cowboy-boots (they really bring out my eyes), and temporarily forgot how unlucky my totems are. You see, the Cowboys were the only local game left on Saturday’s slate, and I just didn’t plan that well, and my crystal-ball is in storage.

I figured I would fold in a trip to Players Sports Bar & Grill during my travel-back and, perhaps, see by main-man, “Handsome Rob,” as a sidebar, while maybe chatting with an interested female companion who might wanna hear about my (ostensibly) awesome day covering football 30-miles north.

Maaaaan, I actually thought WAAAAY too-far ahead …

I’m Scots-American, and my Grandpa Crabbe was born in Glasgow, so that brings with it a firm belief in jinxes. Yes, I knock 3 times on wood to dispel any potential harbinger and recognize the mystical forces of the universe I have zero control over, in the interest of warding off the metaphysical “demons.”

My Dearly-departed-Dad thought this is all nonsense, but he always was wrong.

I have a propensity to wear RED during My Beloved Liverpool’s games, in only odd-numbers of clothing items … (trust-me, it works) and about 20 months ago I figured I might try it with big Trinity High School games.

Sadly, the precognition fell flat on its face. Three of the 4 times I wore RED to Trinity games, they lost. Not-just a week-2 game against Des Lacs-Burlington, mind-you, but the big-uns. So RED is out, forthwith, because I’m bad-luck (wearing RED) when I go to the BAC or the KofCAC. The same is true of orange, royal-blue, maroon, navy-blue or any of the school colors in our coverage area; the risks are just too-great-to-take.

And I don’t do it because — obviously — I’m a jinx when I pull that stunt.

Fast-forward to my fashion faux-pas on Saturday …

I don’t want a single Cowboys player to blame themselves for their loss to Langdon Area-Munich; it rests squarely upon my bootheels. I forgot how criminally unlucky I am when I try this act (unless you count Saturday morning watching Liverpool, because we won, 2-1, over Brighton & Hove Albion while I was wearing RED … I guess it only works when I’m supporting “the Reds” ((it’s not an exact-science)).

Killdeer came up 3-yards short of tying or winning the game in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter, down 44-41, and it’s all my fault. Doggone boots demolished the home-team’s chances … and I was in the pressbox the whole time, realizing what I had done. A thin-layer of sweat breaking out over my body, despite the chilly weather.

In short, I feel bad for my fashion-choices; I shoulda-known-better. (Or turned around in Manning when it dawned on me, in order to go home and change my shoes … like a responsible person.)

So, forthwith, if you see me walking through the gates wearing your team’s colors and/or any references to your mascots, discuss the matter with a coach or usher and have me impolitely escorted out … because I’ve been here before and I know the damage it does. Just in case I weasel my way through, absentmindedly towards your doom, feel free to tackle me or remind me of my perennial jinx-ish-ness, or punch me squarely in the bridge of my nose (the sports-Moms, not the sports-Dads … I’m scared witless over the size of you-dudes).

In the end, I was an upside-down-horseshoe/bad-penny/unmitigated-jinx and you have nobody to blame but myself.

It won’t happen again, but if it does: You’ve been warned.

Gaylon is a sportswriter who originally is from Jensen Beach, Fla. and his column appears weekly. He can be reached at

gparker@thedickinsonpress.com

and/or 701-456-1213.

Gaylon is a sportswriter from Jensen Beach, Fla., but has lived all over the world. Growing up with an athletic background gave him a love of sports that led to a journalism career in such places as Enid, Okla., Alamogordo, N.M., Pascagoula, Miss. and Viera, Fla. since 1998. His main passion is small-town community sports, particularly baseball and soccer.