BOZEMAN, MONT. – The Fighting Hawks women's basketball team fell to the hot-shooting and stifling Montana State Bobcats on Saturday night, 99-57 in Williams Arena inside Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.
 
North Dakota is now 1-9 through its first 10 games of the season while MSU improves to 6-2 overall.
 
The Hawks were led by the duo of Mackenzie Hughes and Mikayla Aumer, who each tossed in 12 points apiece and were each perfect from the free throw line for a combined 5-of-5. Skyler Volmer tossed in nine points in her second career start while London Harris and Lauren Reardon each dropped in five points off the bench.
 
North Dakota was 20-of-46 from the floor while going 4-of-16 from behind the arc and drilling 13-of-19 shots from the free throw line.
 
It was all Montana State in the opening quarter of action as it deafened North Dakota with a sizzling 52.2-percent showing from the field while shooting 50-percent from behind the arc. The Bobcats kicked things off with seven straight points before Volmer drove in for the first UND bucket with 7:43 remaining. It quickly turned into a 15-0 run for MSU over the next four minutes to push things to a lethal double-digit lead. Aumer hit a mid-range jumper, and Hughes drew the and-1 to effort a 7-2 UND run, but the quarter ended with a 29-9 lead for Montana State.
 
Hughes scored the first four points of the second quarter for North Dakota—including a pair of free throws at the 7:50 mark—but the Hawks would not score again for almost three minutes. Aumer weaved through traffic for the lay-in not long before Ava Miller and Volmer hit back-to-back buckets to force a Bobcat timeout. Hanna Miller joined in on the scoring with a second-chance layup in the dwindling seconds of the half to bring it to a 56-21 score at the break.
 
Walker Demers, Hanna Miller and Hughes teamed up to kick off the third quarter before the Bobcats knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers. Harris completed the and-1 but the game was again pushed to a 40-pointer differential by another MSU response. The trend would continue for the remainder of the period until it was 81-38 game.
 
North Dakota would hold its own in the fourth quarter, outscoring its opponent 19-18 in the final 10 minutes. The Hawks found scoring off the bench from Lauren Hilleshiem and Reardon as Aumer nailed back-to-back triples on back-to-back possessions. UND created a 7-2 over three minutes but the scoring would end at 99-57.  
 
Postgame Notes 

• Mackenzie Hughes has finished in double figures in each of the last six games
• Mikayla Aumer collected her fourth double-figure scoring game this season
• North Dakota hadn't given up a double-double all season until tonight
• North Dakota's 21 points in the first half is tied for a season low
• NoDak is now 0-10 all-time in Bozeman
• The Hawks finish 0-2 in the Big Sky/Summit League Challenge

  
How It Happened 
Q1: North Dakota 9, Montana State 29
Q2: North Dakota 21, Montana State 56
Q3: North Dakota 38, Montana State 81
Q4: North Dakota 57, Montana State 99
 
Up Next
North Dakota women's basketball will finish out the month of December from the comfort of home turf at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. The Fighting Hawks return to action on Tuesday, December 9 against Bismarck State with tip set for 7 p.m.

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