GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota women's basketball fell to the Montana Lady Griz on Wednesday night, 86-56, in its first game of the Big Sky/Summit League Challenge inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
 
Mackenzie Hughes led the Fighting Hawks in scoring with her 15 points while splitting the lead for assists with two. Skyler Volmer earned her first career start before dropping a career-high 12 points off 5-of-8 shooting as Finley Ohnstad knocked down her first two 3-pointers of the season and Ava Miller flirted with a double-double with her nine points and nine rebounds.
 
UND was 22-of-59 from the floor and had its lowest performance from the free throw line of the season, going 6-of-13 overall for 46.2 percent. North Dakota tallied its lowest number of turnovers so far this season, as well, with 13 while forcing 10 opponent turnovers. On the other side of the court, Montana exploded for a 49.2-percent showing (31-of-63) and dominated from three-point land (19-of-38). The offensive firepower resulted in a low-rebounding affair, with the Lady Griz collecting 19 to the Hawks' 14.
 
Scoring in evening affair started in a flurry of back-and-forth play, making it an 8-6 UND lead in less than three minutes as four different Hawks scored in the timeframe. The lead moved to five off a triple from Kendra Harvey but the Lady Griz responded with nine straight points to regain control. Ava Miller hit back-to-back shots, and Hughes drilled another shot from deep to put UND back ahead at the 2:47 mark. Montana would go on to nail two more triples in the final 90 seconds to make it a 23-18 game after the first quarter.
 
Ava Miller added in a 3-pointer of her own on the first possession of the second quarter for UND, but the visitors continued to push. It soon became 13-0 run from the Grizzlies that saw North Dakota held scoreless for over six-and-a-half minutes.
 
Facing a 15-point deficit, the Hawks scored the final six points of the quarter from the hands of Volmer, Hughes and Mataeya Mathern to make it a single-digit spread at the half, 36-27.
 
Montana continued to strike from deep, with all three of its first three buckets of the second half coming from behind the arc. Ohnstad knocked down her two 3-pointers in the third quarter and Mikayla Aumer hit the first free throws of the game for North Dakota, but the differential hung at double-digits.
The 62-43 game at the third quickly changed into a 25-point deficit to open the fourth quarter as the Lady Griz exploded from three-point land. Hughes helped break the scoreless drought for UND with back-to-back buckets, but the damage had already been done. Despite four straight points to end the game, the Hawks would go on to fall 86-56.
 
 
Postgame Notes 

• Skyler Volmer earned her first career start in Wednesday's contest
• Volmer also eclipsed a career-high in scoring with 12 points
• Ava Miller narrowly missed a double-double for the fifth time this season
• Mackenzie Hughes scored in double figures for a fifth straight game
• Tonight's game was the first time this season that UND was shutout from the free throw line in the first half
• The 19 allowed 3-pointers from Montana were the most of the season for UND
• North Dakota is now 6-12 all-time against the Lady Griz, going 5-5 on home turf

  
How It Happened 
Q1: North Dakota 18, Montana 23
Q2: North Dakota 27, Montana 36
Q3: North Dakota 43, Montana 62
Q4: North Dakota 56, Montana 86
 
Up Next
In the second half of the Big Sky/Summit League Challenge, North Dakota women's basketball will hit the road to take on Montana State in Bozeman. Tip is currently scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday evening.

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