VERMILLION, S.D. – North Dakota women's basketball was stifled by the South Dakota defense—held to a season-low point total—while dropping its lone contest of the week, 62-39, on Wednesday evening inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
 
The Fighting Hawks fall to 4-14 overall and 1-4 in the Summit League while the Coyotes improve to 13-5 and 3-1.
 
Walker Demers led the scoring for UND with her 10 points alongside four rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Skyler Volmer added in nine points and London Harris went 3-for-4 from the floor for seven points. Ava Miller cleaned the glass with 10 rebounds and Mackenzie Hughes tallied four steals.
 
North Dakota was 15-of-44 from the floor and hit only one 3-pointer on the night while going 8-of-12 from the free throw line. The Hawks collected 25 rebounds, tallied 15 steals and forced 21 Coyote turnovers.
 
It was a low-scoring affair to open up action on the floor as South Dakota hit the first two shots within the first two minutes. Volmer took ahold of the response herself with back-to-back layups in just 40 seconds to tie things up at 4-4 with 7:11 remaining. Neither team would score for over four minutes until Mataeya Mathern and Demers broke the streak and pushed UND to eight straight points for the 8-6 lead.
 
The second quarter quickly turned cold for the Hawks, who would score just one field goal and one free throw in those 10 minutes. South Dakota rattled off 22 points in that frame to take the 28-11 lead at halftime.
 
USD continued with momentum in the third quarter by scoring the first six points. Volmer then knocked down a pair of free throws and soon helped crack open a 7-0 run for UND with a pullup jumper. Demers knocked down a second-chance layup and Harris cashed in from deep during the rally that tightened the game at 38-20. Harris later scored on back-to-back shots, but North Dakota would remain down, 42-24.
 
Despite a 4-of-4 showing from Mikayla Aumer and Demers at the free throw line to start the fourth, the Fighting Hawks would not make a field goal until the 6:16 mark. That came off the hands of Mathern, who would also score the final three points of the quarter. In between then, three different Hawks struck from the field on four different buckets, but the score would still go final at 62-39.
 
Postgame Notes 

• North Dakota's 39 points mark a season-low point total
• Ava Miller reached double figures in rebounding for the sixth time this season
• Walker Demers has scored double digits in nine games this season
• South Dakota held the rebounding advantage, 31-25
• Just four Fighting Hawks made trips to the free throw line
• NoDak moves to 51-40 all-time against the Coyotes
• USD's 24 turnovers is a season-high for UND opponents

  
How It Happened 
Q1: North Dakota 8, South Dakota 6
Q2: North Dakota 11, South Dakota 28
Q3: North Dakota 24, South Dakota 42
Q4: North Dakota 39, South Dakota 62
 
Up Next
North Dakota women's basketball returns home for another one-game week as it hosts South Dakota State on Wednesday, January 21 inside the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Tip off is currently set for 7 p.m.

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