The Herd drops to 0-5 in blowout loss
The NDSU women’s basketball team is still searching for their first win of the season after their loss to Iowa State on Friday. The Bison fell to the Cyclones 86-58. The loss dropped the Bison to 0-5 on the year, while the Cyclones improved to 3-1.
NDSU held a 4-3 lead early on before Iowa State went on an 11-3 run to take the lead for good. The Bison were able to trim the lead to 30-25 with just under four minutes to play in the first half before the Cyclones went on a 14-7 run to close out the first half.
Fresh off a 30 point, 20 rebound effort for the Cyclones earlier in the week, Ashley Joens followed up that performance by dropping 26 points and 14 rebounds on the Herd.
Olivia Skibiel led the way for the Bison, finishing with a season-high 13 points. Emily Dietz finished with 12 rebounds, while Sofija Zivaljevic added five boards and five assists. Ryan Cobbins and Raquel Terrer van Gool each had a season-high in assists with three and two respectively.
Cobbins also made history on Friday night. She became the first NDSU player in the NCAA Division 1 era to score in double figures in the first five games of her career as a freshman.
As they have all year, the Bison struggled offensively. The Herd only shot 34.3 percent from the field and 30 percent from three. Meanwhile, the Cyclones had a good 45.3 percent from the field and an excellent 45 percent from three.
Iowa State was able to dominate inside as they outrebounded the Bison 51-27 and feasted in the paint as they held a jaw-dropping 36-1 advantage in points scored down low.
A positive takeaway from this game for the Bison is that they did a better job of taking care of the ball. Coming into the game they were averaging over 20 turnovers a game but finished the night with only 12.
Looking ahead, the Bison will have a quick turnaround as they play host Wyoming on Nov. 25. This will be another tough test for the Herd as their schedule has been pretty brutal to start the season. However, hopefully this will make the team better in the long run, as first-year head coach Jory Collins is still working on getting his first win as a member of the Bison.