GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Sophomore Mallory Youngblut (Davenport, Iowa) registered her second straight double-double to lift the University of North Dakota women's basketball team to a 82-66, victory over SIU Edwardsville on Thursday at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
Youngblut scored 21 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds as the Sioux improved to 10-0 on their home court this season. Senior Kierah Kimbrough (Greenbush, Minn.) tallied 18 points as UND had four players with 14 or more points.
Youngblut, junior Kayla Bagaason (Clearbrook, Minn.) and junior Jossy Bergan (Valley City, N.D.) combined to make 11 3-pointers in the contest. Bagaason finished with 17 points, while Bergan contributed 14 - just one shy of her career-best.
A slow shooting start for the Sioux allowed the visitors to build an 8-5 advantage just five minutes into the contest. At that point, the teams traded baskets before Kimbrough ignited an 8-0 run for the Sioux that gave UND a 15-10 lead at the 11:36 mark.
Back-to-back buckets by SIUE momentarily cut the Sioux lead to one, but that would be as close as the Cougars would get in the contest.
UND held the Cougars to just two field goals over the final 10 minutes of the half as the Sioux outscored SIUE, 20-5 during that stretch. That included a pair of 3-pointers by Bagaason and Bergan in the final 1:30 to give UND its largest lead of the half at the break, 35-19.
If it were not for timely offensive rebounding and put backs by the Cougars, the Sioux lead could have been much larger. SIUE scored 12 of its 19 first-half points on second chances.
Kimbrough led all scorers with 14 points as she made 7-of-8 from the floor in the opening 20 minutes of play. Bagaason added seven as the Sioux shot 48.5 percent (16-for-33), while holding the Cougars to just 25.8 percent (8-for-31).
The Cougars scored the first basket of the second half, but Youngblut responded with a back-to-back 3-pointers to put UND ahead by 20. Youngblut tallied the first eight points after the break.
UND would lead by as many as 27 points in the second half, but the Cougars would use long-distance shooting to try and make a game of it. SIUE made six 3-pointers in the second half compared to just a pair of trey's prior to the break.
The Cougars' hot shooting put them within 13 points of the Sioux at 63-50 with just over seven minutes to play, but Bagaason and Bergan once again hit back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead back to 19.
The Sioux would end the game shooting 50.8 percent from the floor and outrebound the Cougars 46-39. Six of Youngblut's 15 rebounds were on the offensive end, while she also equaled her career-high with six assists.
UND will close out its regular season next Friday when SeattleU comes to Grand Forks for a 4 p.m. tipoff at the Engelstad Sioux Center.
