GRAND FORKS, N.D.-- A strong second-half effort propelled the University of North Dakota past Northern Arizona, 78-62, Saturday afternoon at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. UND quickly pushed a 13-point halftime lead to 28 early in the second stanza aided by junior Mia Loyd's game-high 23-point outburst.

It was a simple game plan against an undersized NAU team-- get the ball down deep and score in the paint. UND did that with high efficiency, scoring 50 points in the paint as North Dakota's posts (Loyd, Emily Evers) combined to go 18-of-22 from the floor for the game (81.8 percent).

Loyd, Evers (18) and Makailah Dyer (19 points) combined for 60 of UND's point total Saturday with the home team shooting an impressive 58.9 percent from the floor (33-of-56), a new season high.

It was a slower start for North Dakota as NAU was able to grab an 8-4 advantage through nearly the first five minutes. From there, however, North Dakota owned the game, scoring 14 of the next 17 points to regain control and never looked back.

It was a 43-30 lead at the break but the first few minutes of the second half helped put the game away. North Dakota roared out of the locker room with the first eight points and pieced together a 19-4 run to pile up a 28-point advantage en route to the win.

Brittani Lusain finished with 14 points for the Lumberjacks (9-12, 5-5) with Raven Anderson and Monique Mulder each chipping in 10.

UND (16-7, 8-3 Big Sky) will now head to Montana for a battle with the current league-leading Lady Griz on Thursday. Tip time is slated for 8:00 pm Central.

Notes: North Dakota now has three players with 900+ career points: Megan Lauck- 949, Emily Evers- 932, Mia Loyd- 915 ... UND has shot .500 or better eight times this season (6-2) ... Makailah Dyer has scored at least 19 points in all three games against Northern Arizona in her career, averaging 20.3 per contest ... North Dakota is 20-6 all-time at home in Big Sky Conference play, including a 15-1 mark in the last two seasons (6-0 this year).