Box Score Ogden, Utah – North Dakota women's basketball, playing without a full complement of student-athletes fell to Weber State 72-57 in the season opener.

The Fighting Hawks jumped out to a 12-7 lead behind early triples from Maggie Manson and Claire Orth.  Weber State would score 19 of the next 21 points to take a 26-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.  The teams combined to shoot 6-for-12 from beyond the arc in the first ten minutes with the Wildcats sinking four.

Weber State led 43-27 at the half while shooting 15-for-29 as a team in the first twenty minutes. 

The Hawks clawed back within nine on three occasions in the second half which includes a 53-44 score at the end of the third quarter.  Weber State scored first in the fourth before North Dakota got it back to nine at 59-50 at the 3:42 mark on a Melissa Leet bucket assisted by Joli Daninger. 

As a team North Dakota shot 32-percent from the field while the Wildcats made good on 40-percent.  Weber State outrebounded the Hawks 48-29. 

Playing in her first collegiate regular season game, freshman Jodi Anderson narrowly missed a double-double going 4-for-11 from the field for eleven points while collecting a team high nine rebounds. 

Orth scored a team high 15 while DJ Davis made her Division I debut with 10 points including getting to the line 12 times, making eight.

North Dakota missed regulars Kacie Borowicz, Olivia Lane, Juliet Gordon and newcomer Sammiyah Hoskin who were all unavailable to play.

The Fighting Hawks return to action in the Sun City, El Paso, Tex. for a 2 p.m. Saturday tilt with the UTEP Miners in the Don Haskins Center.