The NDSU women’s basketball team (18-10, 10-5 Summit) began the last week of the regular season hot, as they rolled past Kansas City by a final score of 93-67 in Fargo this past Thursday night.
The Bison had five different scorers in double digits, with Avery Koenen leading the way with 20 points and nine total boards. Abby Krzewinski had 20, going four of five from behind the arc, and Marisa Frost scored 15 off the bench. Abbie Draper also had 14 to go with five rebounds, and Molly Lenz added 10.
The Bison scored a season-high 93 points and made a season-high 13 three-pointers (52%), with six different players making at least one. The team also shot 34-59 from the field and 12-18 from the free-throw line, with Koenen going 7-10 from the line herself.
After a back-and-forth first quarter, the Bison were able to jump out in front as they outscored the Roos 24-9 in the second quarter. An eight-point unanswered run, including five from Krzewinski, stretched the Bison lead to 39-24 with just over three minutes left in the first half. NDSU jumped out to a 73-45 lead with just over 30 seconds to play in the third quarter, and they used the momentum to close it out, 93-67.
A career high for Avery Koenen led the Bison past Omaha by a final score of 76-59 on senior night on Saturday in Fargo. The Bison finished the season at 19-10 and 11-5 in the Summit. They will head to the Summit League Championship as the third seed. They will play sixth-seeded Kansas City in Sioux Falls on Friday.
Avery Koenen logged her fourth 20-point game in her last five, recording her eighth double-double of the seasons as she went for a career-high 30 points, shooting 13-20 from the field to go along with 14 rebounds, which is also a career high.
Abby Schulte reached 1000 points for her career as she scored a season-high 14 points to put her at 1013 for her five-season career.
The Bison shot 27-59 from the field and 20-25 from the line while snagging a season-high 47 rebounds as a team, with 10 different players grabbing at least one. The Bison also won the points-in-the-paint battle 46-22 and the bench points 47-20. They won the turnover battle 17-11 and the second-chance points 22-1.
The Bison used a 13-2 lead coming out of a 30-26 halftime lead to get their lead to double-digits, 43-32, with just over three minutes to play in the third. A six-point flurry from the Bison stretched the lead to 53-35, their largest of the game. The Mavericks were able to get it back under ten with a six-point run of their own with just over six minutes left, but the Bison were able to stifle the comeback attempt and close it out, 76-59.