Bison hold off Golden Eagles, 74-70 but drop another close contest to Kansas City, 67-62

On Saturday afternoon, the North Dakota State women’s basketball team held off a late rally from Oral Roberts to win 74-70 at Scheels Center.

After Heaven Hamling hit a 3-pointer at the 6:54 mark of the third quarter, NDSU (8-11, 4-5 Summit) took its largest lead of the game, 53-43. Oral Roberts (9-10, 4-4 Summit) responded with a nine-point run to trim the margin to one, 53-52. The Bison would hold the lead 58-56, heading into the fourth quarter.

Oral Roberts kept the pressure on in the fourth, taking a two-point lead, 70-68, with 1:41 remaining. Olivia Skibiel responded for the Bison, making two critical free throws to tie the game at 70. NDSU then went 4-of-4 from the line to secure the 74-70 victory, with Hamling and Ryan Cobbins each hitting a pair of free throws.

NDSU was led by Hamling, who scored 19 points on 4-of-8 three-point shooting. Skibiel scored 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field, a career-high. She also grabbed six rebounds and made a season-high four three-pointers on six tries. Emily Dietz had a game-high nine rebounds, while Cobbins contributed 12 points.

Skibiel was the Nodak Insurance Player of the Game. 

On Thursday night, the Kansas City Roos used a 9-2 run late in the fourth quarter to defeat the NDSU women, 67-62. Emily Dietz had a season-high 17 points and a team-best nine rebounds to lead the Bison. She also made her 100th career start, putting her in ninth place all-time at NDSU and making her only the fourth player in Division I history to start 100 or more games. NDSU shot 43.4 perfect from the floor and 33.3 percent from three-point land against Kansas City.

NDSU will play again at home versus South Dakota (16-4, 9-0 Summit) a 7 p.m. on Thursday at Scheels Center.