GRAND FORKS, N.D. - It was set to be one of the biggest night's for the North Dakota women's basketball team this season. Not only was it the final home game of the year and Senior Night, but with a win over Chicago State, UND would set itself up for a chance to share the Great West Conference regular season title. However, that opportunity slowly faded away as the Cougars crawled in and clawed their way to a 71-57 victory in front of 1,698 fans at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
Following the game, all in attendance paid tribute to UND's two seniors - forward Mallory Youngblut (Davenport, Iowa) and forward Corey Lof (Detroit Lakes, Minn.) - as they stepped off of their home court for the final time in a Fighting Sioux jersey.
"I've said it before, our seniors are the pioneers of this transition, and this transition has not been easy" UND head coach Gene Roebuck said. "Let's put it this way, you have to be pretty tough and pretty thick-skinned to go through this transition knowing that yes, you're in a conference, but that conference can't play for anything in the postseason. At the end of the year the season is over. I give Mallory and Corey a lot of credit for keeping this program above water. The players that are coming in now will reap the benefits."
With the loss, UND (12-14, 7-3 GWC) can finish no better than 9-3 in the conference. Chicago State (19-9, 10-1) clinched at least a portion of the GWC title.
North Dakota scored first as freshman forward Megan Lauck (Arden Hills, Minn.) swished a free throw at 19:28, but that would prove to be UND's first and only lead of the game. Seventeen seconds later Elana Wroten hit a jumper to give Chicago State the one-point lead. It was a lead CSU would not give up and one it would eventually build up to a 20-point margin.
The Sioux had a hard time containing Courtney Waldon, who finished with 21 points on 8-for-18 shooting from the field, including five three pointers. Waldon was the only player from either side to play the full 40 minutes.
"What frustrated me was that were let her get open too many times in the zone," Roebuck said. "She is a great shooter, and deservedly, one of the top players in the league. If you leave her open, she's going to make baskets."
Natalie Marlowe finished with 15 points and Janay Dockery added another 11 points. The league's top scorer, Tressa Beckel, was held to just nine points.
The Cougars shot 45.5 percent (25-for-55) from the field, 37.5 percent (9-for-24) from three-point range, and 80 percent (12-for-15) at the free throw line. In the opening half, they shot 52 percent (13-for-25) from the field and 46.2 percent (6-for-13) beyond the arc.
The Fighting Sioux were led by 16 points from Youngblut. She shot 4-for-10 from the field and made UND's lone three-pointer. She added seven points from the free throw line and dished out a team-high five assists.
Off of the bench, redshirt freshman Katie Houdek (Grafton, N.D.) scored 10 points for her fourth career double figure game. She was 3-for-5 from the field and 4-for-7 at the free throw line.
UND's shooting woes from Saturday seemed to find their way back to "The Betty" as the Sioux shot 40 percent from the field and just 9.1 percent from three-point range. They went 1-for-8 in the first half and were 0-for-3 in the final 20 minutes from three-point range.
At the free throw line, UND shot 69 percent (20-for-29).
CSU won the rebounding battle 34-30 and scored 24 points off of UND's 26 turnovers. Twenty-three of UND's points came off of the bench.
North Dakota scored first, but Chicago State quickly answered with 10 straight points to hold a 10-1 lead just over three minutes in. Youngblut registered UND's first field goal at 16:19, but even with a pair of free throws, the Sioux were still seven points back as Beckel made the steal and the layup in-between Youngblut's scores.
After trading baskets, a free throw from Beckel at 13:33 gave CSU the 10-point lead, but on the other end, Houdek scored her first basket of the game and kick started a 12-5 run for UND that would bring it within one point of the Cougars with 6:56. UND's final basket of the run came off of a steal and then a transition layup by sophomore Carly Rothfusz (Eden Prairie, Minn.).
CSU wasted no time as it built the lead back up to nine. Following a three-pointer by Youngblut, Waldon sank back-to-back three's to give the Cougars a 35-23 lead with 3:20 remaining in the half.
At the half, UND trailed CSU, 36-27.
Outside of the break, Dockery hit from three-point range. Youngblut answered with four straight points to knock the CSU lead back down to eight. The teams battled back-and-forth to a 45-35 score, but then the Cougars went on a 9-0 run to take a 19-point lead.
UND chipped the margin back down to 15 points, but after two minutes of scoring silence, Caila Desroches and Beckel combined for five points to push CSU into a 59-39 lead with 7:06 remaining.
The Fighting Sioux managed to pull within 12 points on a pair of occasions in the final four minutes, but the Cougars dug their claws in and held on tight for victory.
North Dakota will do the Texas Two Step to wrap up the week and the Great West regular season schedule. On Thursday, UND will match up against Houston Baptist in Houston and on Saturday, it will face Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, Texas. The Fighting Sioux will take on the Great West Tournament March 9-12 in Orem, Utah.
GAME NOTES: With 16 points today, Mallory Youngblut moved into the No. 17 spot on UND's all-time scoring list with 1,224 career points. She surpassed Nadine VanDeKerckhove, who tallied 1,209 career points from 1987-91) ... With 292 points on the season, Allyssa Wall ranks eighth on UND's all-time freshman scoring list ... North Dakota and Chicago State are tied in the all-time series 2-2. Each has won and lost on its home court ... Since the inaugural season of the Great West Conference (2008-09), UND has gone 18-4 against league foes and 29-36 against non-conference opponents ... The University of North Dakota women's basketball program holds a 780-295 record all-time since the first game was played in 1974. Under head coach Gene Roebuck, UND is 604-131 ... All-time, the Fighting Sioux are 427-84 (.836) when it comes to defending their own court and are 332-40 (.892) under the tutelage of Gene Roebuck ... UND is 92-15 (.860) all-time at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, which opened prior to the 2004-05 season.
- Go Sioux -
