GRAND FORKS, N.D.-- Junior Mia Loyd etched her 14th double-double of the season to help host North Dakota power past Southern Utah, 67-52 Thursday night at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Loyd was one of four UND players in double figures scoring with Makailah Dyer adding 14, Emily Evers 11 and Megan Lauck with 10 for North Dakota.

UND held SUU (11-8, 4-5) to just 28.6 percent shooting from the floor in the win.

North Dakota trailed 3-2 at the start but scored the 11 of the next 13 points to take an eight-point lead with 12 minutes remaining and never looked back. The advantage would balloon to 15 in the first half before the Thunderbirds scored 11 straight points in a span of two-and-a-half minutes to trim the deficit to just four.

It would be a six-point lead at the break for North Dakota. The second half would see the home team again build a double-digit edge before having to withstand another T'bird rally. SUU got it back within a bucket on a pair of occasions but senior Megan Lauck had the answer.

Just as she did Saturday when she buried four threes in a span ofjust ofve rfour minutes, the Shoreview, Minn., native tripled on back-to-back possessions to get hot and help UND put some distance in the final minutes. Her buckets came after Evers fouled out with just over six minutes to play. Lauck came to the rescue as North Dakota pulled within a game of first-place Montana, who fell by a point at Eastern Washington Thursday.

UND would use an 11-3 run over the final 4:25 to put it out of reach.  

Marquelle Funk led the Thunderbirds with 13 points while Desiree Jackson chipped in 11 points and four steals.

UND (15-7, 7-3 Big Sky) hosts Northern Arizona Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

Notes: North Dakota improves to 8-1 this season at home and 23-2 at the Betty over the last two seasons combined ...  Evers' four steals marked a new career high.