GRAND FORKS, N.D. - With a trio of players in double figures, including 21 points from senior forward Mallory Youngblut, the Fighting Sioux women's basketball team captured their fifth straight victory with a 76-63 Great West Conference win over Texas-Pan American in front of 1,612 fans at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
With the win, the Sioux (7-11) are now an undefeated 3-0 in the Great West. The Broncs dropped to 9-13 overall and 1-3 in the GWC.
Youngblut, a native of Davenport, Iowa, notched 16 of her 21 points in the second half shooting 4-for-4 both at three-point range an at the free throw line. Another player who seemed to wake up in the final 20 minutes was freshman center Allyssa Wall. After going scoreless in the first half, the North Sioux City, S.D., native recorded nine of UND's first 13 second half points. Along with Youngblut, she was key at the free throw line in the final minutes of the game.
With Youngblut and Wall quiet in the first half, a trio of players stepped up to help pace the Sioux. Freshman forward Megan Lauck (Arden Hills, Minn.) scored nine points in the opening half to finish with 12 and both senior forward Corey Lof (Detroit Lakes, Minn.) and freshman forward Madi Buck (Bismarck, N.D.) tallied five first half points.
The Sioux finished 21-for-51 (.412) from the field, 8-for-17 (.471) at three-point range, and 26-for-32 (.813) at the free throw line.
Briana Torre led the Broncs with 14 points on 5-for-23 shooting from the field, including a 4-for-17 clip at three point range. Re-Shawndra Jackson finished with 10 points on 4-for-10 shooting, including a pair of three-pointers.
The big story of the night was the amount shots taken behind the arc by UTPA. While the Broncs scored 39 points off of three's, they also took 43 shots from three point range. That's 26 more attempts that the Sioux took tonight and three more attempts than the record 40 held at UND.
As a team, UTPA was 13-for-43 (.302) at three point range - 1st half: 6-for-20 (.300); 2nd half: 7-for-23 (.304) - with Torre (4-for-17) and CeMonay Newell (3-for-11) taking the bulk of the shots.
The Broncs finished .310 (22-for-71) from the field and .600 (6-for-10) at the free throw line.
The bulk of the game was a back and forth battle as neither team could pull away by more than five points. Three times UND found itself with a five-point lead, but each time the Broncs fired back to either tie or take a small, but brief lead. In the final minutes, UTPA set out on a 10-2 run to hold a 32-27 lead as the teams went into the locker-room.
Back out of the break, Wall set the tone with a quick layup just seven seconds in. Lauck quickly followed with her lone three-pointer to tie the game at 32-32, but was answered by Torre on the opposite end. Youngblut tied it again with her own three and such was story as the teams found themselves knotted three more times through the ensuing four and a half minutes.
With the game tied at 42-42 with 13:54 remaining on the clock, the fight in the Sioux really seemed to come alive.
A pair of free throws from Buck and another three by Youngblut gave UND a five-point lead heading into the 12-minute mark. The Broncs sank a few more shots, but each was countered enough by the Sioux that they were unable to tie or take the lead for the remainder of the game.
After allowing UTPA to cut the score to 55-53 with 6:51 on the clock, a quick pass from sophomore Nicole Smart (Ada, Minn.) to Wall set UND out on a 8-0 run to lead 65-53 with just under three minutes remaining.
With the help of stellar three-point shooting by the Sioux and strong defense, UND was able to hold out for their third straight win over a Great West opponent and tally its fifth consecutive win at home.
North Dakota will continue its seven-game home series on Saturday as it plays host to Houston Baptist. Great West Conference action is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
GAME NOTES: Mallory Youngblut is now ranked 21st all-time at UND with 1,109 points. She is also 5th in career three-pointers made (192) and eighth in career three-pointers attempted (500) ... North Dakota leads the all-time series over Texas-Pan American 3-0 (2-0 in Grand Forks, 1-0 in Edinburg) ... Since the inaugural season of the Great West Conference (2008-09), UND has gone 14-1 against league foes and 28-36 against non-conference opponents ... The University of North Dakota women's basketball program holds a 775-292 record all-time since the first game was played in 1974. Under head coach Gene Roebuck, UND is 599-128 ... All-time, the Fighting Sioux are 424-83 (.836) when it comes to defending their own court and are 329-39 (.893) under the tutelage of Gene Roebuck ... UND is 89-14 (.861) all-time at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, which opened prior to the 2004-05 season ... Head coach Gene Roebuck is just ONE wins away from his 600th win at the helm of Fighting Sioux women's basketball.
- Go Sioux -
