GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota women's basketball played a complete game Sunday afternoon to race past Minot State, 84-68, at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
The win marks the first for the Fighting Hawks (1-1) this season, as North Dakota inches one game closer to win No. 1,000 in program history. For Minot State, this result did not impact their record as the game is marked as an exhibition for the Beavers. For North Dakota, it marked 12 consecutive wins over Minot State, which dates to 1980.
As a team, the Fighting Hawks vastly improved its shooting from game one, making the jump to 48.3 percent from the field in the game. The Fighting Hawks connected on 10 3-pointers, marking five consecutive seasons with UND having at least one game with double-digit threes made. The strong 3-point shooting led to the Hawks averaging 21 points per quarter and consistently scored between 19 and 22 points in all four frames.
Many of the team's points came off fast break opportunities, where the Fighting Hawks outperformed the Beavers 22-to-6. North Dakota forced 21 turnovers and managed to score 28 points because of them.
Jayda Maves had a breakout performance for the Fighting Hawks, pacing the team with 19 points. She made nine field goals, including one three, and was virtually unstoppable in the paint driving for a layup. Freshman
Jayden Sonnenberg also stood out for UND, scoring the first 13 points of her collegiate career on a highly efficient 5-for-6 shooting percentage from the field.
London Harris and
Ciona Wells also reached double-digit scoring, reaching 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Wells dished six assists and had a plus/minus of positive 25 to lead the team.
Aliyah Green demonstrated unselfish play by grabbing a team-high nine rebounds while shooting only one field goal for the game.
Mia Jacobson joined Sonnenberg in scoring her first career points, while
Lauren Reardon and
Kinley Smith made their first overall appearance for the season.
Minot State opened the scoring with an and-one, but Maves put North Dakota on the board with a quick transition layup. The Beavers built an 8-2 lead to force a North Dakota timeout, where the team made quick adjustments and caught up quickly. Maves added a layup as Sonnenberg made her first collegiate buckets off two layups, converting an and-one on her second basket.
London Harris drained a 3-pointer to put North Dakota up by five, but one last layup from Minot State left the Fighting Hawks up, 19-16, after the first 10 minutes.
Maves opened the second frame with a bang by draining her first 3-pointer as a Fighting Hawk. Wells complemented Maves by doing the same thing less than a minute later. The entire Fighting Hawk offense got a spark from those buckets, as it would go on a 10-0 scoring run where they only missed one shot in that span.
Sydney Piekny made her first three of the game as Jacobson scored her first collegiate points in an and-one.
The Fighting Hawks held a 14-point lead by the second quarter media timeout. Afterward, MSU began to find offensive rhythm and cut the lead down to back to 10, but a UND free throw from Sonnenberg fashioned the first half score of 41-30. Five players had at least five points in the first half, as North Dakota held a .450 shooting clip.
Neither team could put the ball through the net for the first three minutes of the third frame. That was until Wells made a circus 3-pointer, chucking the ball from her shoulders as the shot clock expired to kickstart a UND scoring run. Maves continued to stand out for the Fighting Hawks, scoring back-to-back driving layups to up her point total to 15 in the game. Harris had a wide-open look from 3-point range and didn't miss, giving the Fighting Hawks their largest lead of the game to that point. North Dakota held a 63-44 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Maves scored on another driving layup 10 seconds into the fourth, followed by another quality layup from Sonnenberg. Piekny and
Addison Klosterbuer each made a 3-pointer as North Dakota's lead reached the 20s. Minot State managed to close that gap to 14 points after North Dakota got in foul trouble, but the Fighting Hawks defense held strong. The rest of the game was headlined by free throws, with a trio of Fighting Hawks working together to put the final seven points on the board from the charity stripe.
North Dakota held the ball as the final buzzer sounded with them on top, 84-68.
Postgame Notes
- North Dakota won the 20th all-time game in the series, improving its record over Minot State to 14-6.
- The Fighting Hawks have won 12 straight against the Beavers, and have not lost to them since 1979.
- Jayda Maves was UND's leading scorer, dropping 19 points on a .529 shooting clip. She also added three rebounds, two assists and a steal.
- Aliyah Green had a Dennnis Rodman-esque game, grabbing nine rebounds and scoring just two points on one shot attempt. Her nine boards led the team
- Freshman Jayden Sonnenberg scored her first 13 career points in her second collegiate game. She shot 5-for-6 from the floor, and also contributed five rebounds and one assist.
- Ciona Wells had a team-high six assists and had a plus/minus of positive 25, also the best mark on the team. She scored 11 points.
- With 14 points, London Harris has back-to-back games in double digits to start the season. It's the first time she's accomplished that feat in her career.
- Despite forcing fewer turnovers than it did in game one, North Dakota scored more points off turnovers (28) against Minot State than it did against Minnesota Crookston (25).
- The Fighting Hawks connected on 10 3-pointers for the game, marking five consecutive seasons with UND having at least one game with double-digit threes made.
- The Hawks averaged 21 points per quarter and consistently scored between 19 and 22 points in all four frames.
- The Fighting Hawks outperformed the Beavers 22-to-6 in fast break points scored.
- North Dakota forced 21 turnovers and managed to score 28 points because of them.
How it Happened
Q1: North Dakota 19, Minot State 16
Q2: North Dakota 41, Minot State 30
Q3: North Dakota 63, Minot State 43
Q4: North Dakota 84, Minot State 68
Up Next
North Dakota will go on its first road trip of the young season, heading first to Milwaukee for a Thursday night matchup. The game is slated to be played on Nov. 12, with tipoff set for 6 p.m. CT.
For more information on North Dakota Women's Basketball, follow on social media @UNDwbasketball or visit FightingHawks.com.
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