HOUSTON - With 17 points apiece by sophomore guard Nicole Smart and senior forward Mallory Youngblut, the University of North Dakota began its Texas road swing with a 73-61 Great West Conference victory over Houston Baptist at Sharp Gym.
"It's nice to get a win, but I always look at how you play," UND head coach Gene Roebuck said. "Sometimes you can play really well and lose and although you're not happy with the loss, you at least battled. Today we didn't step up and do the things that we needed to do. We turned the ball over and we had a lack of concentration.
"It was one of those games where it's a win, but it's not a real pretty win."
With the win, North Dakota improved to 13-14 overall, 8-3 in the Great West. Sitting just one game back from .500, UND is ranked third in the GWC behind Chicago State (10-1) and South Dakota (8-2) with one regular season game to go. Houston Baptist dropped to 3-23, 1-10 GWC.
HBU made the first basket, but the Fighting Sioux quickly answered to nab the advantage. The Huskies would come as close as two points midway through the opening half, but they were never able to put together a complete takeover.
A native of Ana, Minn., Smart shot a career-best 4-for-6 from three-point range and buried 3-of-4 free throws to finish with a new career high.
"Nicole hit some good shots, some big shots for us in the first half," Roebuck said. "She was knocking down shots right away."
Youngblut, a Davenport, Iowa, native scored all but five of her points at the free throw line where she went 12-for-13.
"Mal has had a few games now where she's struggled and it's up to her to get herself back to where she was before," Roebuck said. "She needs to understand that she is the leader of the team and her floor game needs to pick up."
Freshman center Allyssa Wall (North Sioux City, S.D.) registered a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double and senior forward Corey Lof (Detroit Lakes, Minn.) recorded 10 points.
The Fighting Sioux shot 34.6 percent (18-for-52) from the field, 23.8 percent (5-for-21) from three-point range, and 71.1 percent (32-for-45) at the free throw line. Smart made both of UND's first half three-pointers.
The Huskies were led by Tia Jackson's 19 points and eight rebounds. Megan Green added 12 points from beyond the arc.
The Houston Baptist shot 33.0 percent from the field, 29.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 66.7 percent at the free throw line. The Huskies turned around their free throw shooting after starting 4-for-10 (40 percent) at the line in the opening half.
With 32 defensive boards, UND out-rebounded HBU 46-40. The Sioux converted HBU's 25 turnovers into 26 points and scored 11 points on second chances.
HBU's Jamie Spriggs opened the game with a free throw at 19:47, but a short 23 seconds later, Wall grabbed the lead for UND taking a pass from Smart to the hole for two. Smart hit her own jumper at the 19-minute mark, but Spriggs was there on the opposite end with the answer.
Leading 4-3 with 18:46 on the clock, UND bumped the lead up to 13-3 with a 9-0 run. The run was kick started by Smart's first of a career-high four three-pointers.
HBU knocked the margin back down to two points with a 12-4 run, but with the help of Wall and Smart, UND once again swelled the lead out to 10 points.
Leading 25-15 with 6:36 left in the half, the Sioux fended off the Huskies as they attempted another run. After finding themselves down by 11 points, HBU sent out Jackson to score a pair of quick baskets to take the game to a 31-24 halftime score.
Outside of the break, the Huskies extended their half-ending run to 8-0 to creep within five points of the Sioux. The teams traded baskets back-and-forth until consecutive three's by Smart and Youngblut at the midway point put the Sioux back out by 11.
A jumper by Mele Leasau at 6:09 brought the score to 53-49, but the Sioux would let them come no closer through the final minutes.
As the clock wound down the final 1:35, North Dakota shot 13-15 from the free throw line to out-score the Huskies 13-5.
Next on the docket for North Dakota is a 337 mile trip south to Edinburg, Texas to take on Texas-Pan American. Game time is slated for 5:30 p.m.
GAME NOTES: With 17 points today, Mallory Youngblut ranks 17th on UND's all-time scoring list with 1,241 career points ... With 308 points on the season, Allyssa Wall ranks eighth on UND's all-time freshman scoring list ... North Dakota leads the all-time series 7-0. The Fighting Sioux lead 4-0 in Grand Forks and 3-0 in Houston ... Since the inaugural season of the Great West Conference (2008-09), UND has gone 19-4 against league foes and 29-36 against non-conference opponents ... The University of North Dakota women's basketball program holds a 781-295 record all-time since the first game was played in 1974. Under head coach Gene Roebuck, UND is 605-131 ... 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 -
