University of St. Thomas
The NDSU Women’s Basketball team traveled down to St. Paul, Minnesota, to play St. Thomas on February 22nd in Schoenecker Arena. North Dakota State (11-2 Summit) gained another win to put them on a six-game winning streak for this season.
The Bison ended the first quarter with an assist from Abby Schulte to Simon Miriley for a three-pointer with just five seconds left on the clock. NDSU then went into the second quarter, with Elle Evans scoring a layup with 7:13 remaining on the clock, gaining a 15-point lead over the Tommies (6-7 Summit). With 1:17 minutes left on the clock, Schulte threw another assist to Abbie Draper, who made a three-pointer to end the first half at 44-27 on top.
NDSU gained and carried their momentum in the third frame keeping at least an 18-point lead over St. Thomas. With a steal from Draper, Avery Koenen converted the fastbreak into a jumper to make the score 57-31. In the second half of the game, the Bison were able
to score 16 points off turnovers. NDSU went on to win the game by a final score of 96-53.
Evans had a game-high 22 points with four assists and three rebounds. Abby Graham had a season-high 13 points and Draper with a game-high eight rebounds. The Bison had a 72.2 percent (13-18) three-pointer accuracy compared to the Tommies’ 29.4 percent (5-17). This lands the game in second all-time for the highest three-point scoring in NDSU history.
University of North Dakota
Two days later, the NDSU women’s basketball team played at home in Scheels Center, with a doubleheader, shared with the NDSU men’s basketball team. The Bison continued their streak, now going on seven games in the Summit League. The NDSU women’s basketball secured the longest winning streak since the 2004-05 season, with 24 straight wins.
In the first half, NDSU carried momentum with Evans tallying 11 points and Hamling with four points and three assists. With 05:39 left, Schulte got a rebound off of a missed three-pointer by UND, found Hamling, and found the net ending in a layup to bring the Bison up 16, 45-29.
The Bison shot 63.16 percent (12-19) from the field in the first frame and 63.64 percent (7-11) in the second frame.
Abby Krzewinski started the third quarter with two free throws. UND (5-9 Summit) started to fight back with a layup by Fatima Ibrahim, closing the gap with NDSU still up by 10 points. However, the Bison had an eight-point run in the last minute and a half of the quarter remaining, to bring NDSU back up at 63-83. The Bison poured it on in the final quarter, not giving UND a chance, NDSU swept the season series with a 107-80 victory.
The team contributed with seven players contributing at least one of the 15 three-pointers during the competition. Six players reached double-digits in scoring numbers including Evans (21 points), Hamling (15 points), Schulte (15 points), Miriley Simon (15 points), Abbie Draper (14 points), and Leah Mackenzie (11 points). Evans had her third straight 20-point game and Schulte had a career-high six steals.
The NDSU Women’s Basketball team will play South Dakota on Feb. 29th, at 7 p.m. at Scheels Center and then head to Brookings for another battle with South Dakota State for their last regular season game on March 2nd at 2 p.m.