GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Despite making it an eight-point game at the beginning of the second half, North Dakota women's basketball fell to the Western Kentucky Lady Toppers, 80-50, on Sunday afternoon.
 
Skyler Volmer and Lauren Hillesheim split the leading efforts for the Fighting Hawks, each scoring eight points apiece. Walker Demers followed close with seven points as Sydney Piekny totaled six points of two 3-pointers. Demers and Ava Miller collected five rebounds each while Demers and Miranda VanderWal each tallied a block.
 
Western Kentucky held the narrow 38-36 rebounding edge over the home team as North Dakota grabbed 27 points off the bench and dished out 12 assists while shooting 18-of-51 from the floor and going 9-of-11 from the free throw line.
 
The first quarter was a game of runs as Western Kentucky kicked things off with a sizzling 11-0 run. After a bucket from Volmer to start the UND scoring, the Hawks continued to respond with a 7-0 run of their own to tighten things up at 13-9. But that momentum was halted just before the second quarter as WKU rattled off seven straight points in just over a minute to force a 20-11 lead.
 
That control carried over into the beginning of the second at the Lady Toppers added in another seven straight points to force at UND timeout at the 8:08 mark while facing a 27-11 deficit. That lead would eventually increase to 21 after another five unanswered points as UND would not hit its first bucket of the quarter until the 5:17 mark.
 
But the Hawks would do so in electric fashion.
 
Piekny came off the bench and drilled back-to-back 3-pointers in under 15 seconds and was soon followed by a strong driving layup from Volmer, who seconds later drew an offensive foul. The powerful plays on both ends of the court set up North Dakota for another knocked down triple, this time from Ava Miller. The half would end with an exchange of free throws to leave the Hawks facing a 39-27 spread at the half.
 
Volmer and Demers teamed up to open the third with back-to-back buckets to tighten the score even further at 39-31. The response from Western Kentucky quickly began to add up and culminated in a silencing 19-0 run while an exchange of layups would end the quarter at 60-33.
 
UND's bench provided most of the scoring in the fourth after Demers scored the first three points. Anaiyah Fletcher scored a quick five points—including a completed three-point play—before VanderWal added in four of her own and Hillesheim struck again from deep alongside a pair of free throws. Despite the bench power, UND would fall 80-50.
 
Postgame Notes 

• UND is now 0-5 when outrebounded by their opponent
• Lauren Hillesheim's eight points mark a new career high for the freshman
• Mackenzie Hughes led the team with four assists
• Walker Demers led with two steals
• Miranda VanderWal scored her first points of the season in Sunday's affair
• Sunday's game marked the third time UND has had more bench points than its opponent
• NoDak is now 1-1 against WKU at home and 1-3 all-time in the series

  
How It Happened 
Q1: North Dakota 11, Western Kentucky 20
Q2: North Dakota 27, Western Kentucky 39
Q3: North Dakota 33, Western Kentucky 60
Q4: North Dakota 50, Western Kentucky 80
 
Up Next
The homestand will continue for North Dakota as the women's basketball team hosts a familiar foe in Mayville State on Wednesday, December 17. Tip is set for 7 p.m. inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.

For more information on North Dakota women's basketball, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDwbasketball.