The North Dakota State Women’s Basketball team played two away games on the road this past Thursday (1/18) and Saturday (1/20).
Denver
The Bison pushed past the Pioneers in the fourth quarter to get the dub against Denver University. NDSU’s winning streak grows to four and wins its first game at Denver since 2016.
In the first quarter, the score went back and forth, with a layup from Bison Abby Krzewinski to a jumper from Angelina Robles. Leah Mackenzie scored a beautiful three-pointer to put the Bison back up by two. NDSU finished the first by leading 19-16. Throughout the second and third quarters, the green and gold continued to battle, with Denver never too far behind them.
Once the fourth quarter hit, the Bison hit the ground running. NDSU hit 100% of their free throws, with four from Heaven Hamling and two shots by three other teammates. With a layup from Abbie Draper, their lead increased to 17 points at the end, with the help of an 11-0 run. NDSU went on to defeat Denver by a final score of 84-63.
With 22 points, Ellie Evans shot 9-of-17 from the field, along with Hamling also adding 15 points to her career stats. Hamling currently sits at 1,459 career points over four seasons, making her number one in the NDSU D1 stat books and ranking ninth overall.
NDSU shot 56.1 percent from the field (32-57) and 53.3 percent (8-15) from the three, all points including the bench contributing 25 points for the night.
Oral Roberts
On Saturday afternoon, the Bison played in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the Mabee Center. Despite their four previous wins, NDSU couldn’t keep up the winning streak as they fell 84-75 to Oral Roberts.
At halftime, Abby Graham finished the quarter with a jumper for the Bison to just trail behind by three points. In the fourth quarter, Evans scored in the paint, allowing NDSU to be within 10 of the Golden Eagles 72-62, but Ruthie Udoumoh came right back with two good shots of her own. The Bison persisted with shots but it ultimately wasn’t enough to make a comeback with their final score falling short by nine points. North Dakota State scored 22 points off turnovers and eight points from fast breaks.
Evans had a game-high 23 points, including two assists. Avery Koenen had a season-high 14 points with four rebounds, four steals, and three assists. Graham also showed up to put 12 points up for the Bison and four rebounds.
The North Dakota State Women’s basketball team will host St. Thomas on Thursday, January 25th, at 7:00 p.m. in the Scheels Center. The theme will be pink-out in support of breast cancer awareness across the Fargo-Moorhead community.