Marena Whittle, Taylor Thunstedt and Brook Yaggie combined to score 77 of the Bison’s 94 points in the team’s first Summit League victory over Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday. The Bison (6-15, 1-7) won 94-85.
Whittle matched her career-high for points with 33 and recorded her 10th double-double of the season with her 18 rebounds. She was three rebounds and three assists short of earning career-highs in both those two categories.
Whittle went 11-for-18 from the floor and 9-for-11 from the charity stripe.
“I was defiantly feeling my outside shot today,” Whittle said.
Yaggie, a sophomore recorded a new career-high with her 25 points at the Bentson Bunker Fieldhouse.
“I’ve been struggling shooting it a little bit recently, but I’ve gone to attacking; I mean it feels great, but the win feels better,” Yaggie said.
NDSU outscored IPFW (4-16, 0-7) in the final three quarters, overcoming 19 turnovers.
The Mastodons took the early 21-16 lead after the first quarter, but the Bison shot 50 percent from the floor to keep themselves in the game.
NDSU went 31-for-36 on the free throw line, and Yaggie finished 12-for-12 as IPFW was fouling late in the fourth quarter to try and claw its way back into the game.
It was a back-and-forth game throughout the second half, but NDSU pulled away in the fourth quarter leading by 10 points with just under four minutes to play.
“It was earned,” Walseth said about the Bison’s victory. “Our players have worked very hard; they’ve come to the gym for a long time, focused, giving great effort, so this was a earned and well deserved win.”
The Bison were outscored 30-6 on bench points, but Walseth said it was good to have Megan Gamble back who hasn’t played in a few games due to an injury.
Walseth said she told Gamble before the game that she was going to limit her minutes between 10-12, and she played 13 minutes dishing out four assists.
“I don’t think she was happy with me,” Walseth said about telling Gamble she was going to play limited minutes. “But she understood where we were going, and I’m very proud of her for her four assists to one turnover. That’s difficult to do not playing live completion in over a month.”
This season after a win, NDSU has won its next game. The Bison will look to do that 4:30 p.m. Saturday against University of South Dakota in Vermillion.