The North Dakota State Women’s Basketball team won against St. Thomas on Thursday night at the Scheels Center. Elle Evans bagged a career-high 29 points to lead NDSU to their fifth out of six game wins in the Summit League so far. The win continues their home winning streak at home this season. 

Abby Shulte put the first points up for the Bison with a layup in the paint. The first quarter remained neck-and-neck on the scoreboard, ultimately with UST winning by one. NDSU started strong in the second with Evans hitting the first three-pointer of the second quarter, bringing them ahead. Heaven Hamling was inspired by this, scoring a layup at the 8:14 mark. The two go back and forth, holding off the Tommies until halfway through when Amber Scaliascored from the foul line. NDSU accelerated in the second, gaining as high as a fifteen-point lead. 

Going into the second half of the game, NDSU had money on their mind. From a series of team efforts from Draper, Koenen, and Hamling, Evans scored the other half of her points, putting up 13 for the Bison. In the last minutes of the quarter, Angelina Hammond got a turnover for UST, but Abby Graham got the steal. The ball made it to Hamling, where she took off on a fastbreak and scored the layup. With the already nine-point lead at the start of the third, the Bison blew it open and had as much as a 34-point lead, thanks to a jumper from Miriley Simon in the final seconds of the quarter. North Dakota State finished off the third shooting a lights-out 60 percent from the field and a small 16.7 percent from St. Thomas. 

Hamling tallied a 20-point contribution along with a game-high of seven rebounds. Abbie Draper scored nine points, three rebounds, and two steals for the Bison. With Evans’ seven triples, she’s tied for the fourth-most in one game for NDSU history, just being shy of the nine record by Beth Blue back in 2002. 

To wrap up the game, the Bison finished off the game shooting 46.6 percent (27-58) from the field and 64.7 percent (11-17) from the three. The Bison forced 33 turnovers in comparison to St Thomas’ 10 and achieved five fast break points with the Tommies at zero.

NDSU’s next home game is its biggest game of the season as the Bison host South Dakota State on February 1st.