FARGO, N.D. – The North Dakota women's basketball team fought against heavy foul trouble throughout Saturday's afternoon matchup to stay within close range of the North Dakota State Bison through the first half. But a change of momentum soon resulted in a 95-70 loss inside Scheels Center in the regular season finale.
 
UND concludes its regular season slate with a 7-23 overall record and a 3-13 conference showing while the Bison end at 26-3 and 15-1.
 
Mackenzie Hughes led the offensive performance for the Fighting Hawks with her 23 points and eclipsed the 2000-point mark for her career after her eighth point via a free throw to end the second quarter. Sydney Piekny joined her double figures with 10 points—including three 3-pointers—as Mataeya Mathern led with her five rebounds.
 
As a team, North Dakota was 22-of-56 (39.3-percent) from the floor, 9-of-26 (34.6-percent) from behind the arc and 17-of-20 (85-percent) from the free throw line. The team also tallied 25 rebounds and just nine turnovers while forcing 18 lead changes.
 
A triple from Piekny opened up the scoring for UND and was soon joined with buckets by Mathern and Mikayla Aumer to take an early 7-6 lead. And the back-and-forth scoring battle was on. It became a 15-13 lead for UND at the 1:44 mark but two sets of free throws made it a 17-15 NDSU advantage at the end of the first quarter.
 
North Dakota took control once again at 22-21 off a minute-long 7-2 run but the Bison pushed back with five straight points. Walker Demers drilled a layup and a second-chance long ball from Mathern put UND ahead before an all-out free throw and 3-point contest erupted. A two-point Fighting Hawk advantage crumbled into a five-point lead for the Bison, who managed to find consistent trips to the free throw line, but the visitors stood firm. Another triple from Piekny as well as a completed three-point play from Hughes cut the game to a 39-38 spread in favor of the home team heading into the locker room.
 
The Bison flew out of the gate to start the third quarter, scoring seven straight to take control at 46-38. UND fought against the attempted rally with a later 7-2 run off the hands of Demers, Hughes and Lauren Hillesheim. It forced a 60-56 game at the 2:40 mark, but the Hawks would get no closer.
 
NDSU scored 32 points over the course of the quarter and was only able to push it to a double-digit differential within the last minute of competition, securing a 71-59 advantage heading into the final 10 minutes.
 
Momentum was fully in favor of the Bison throughout the fourth quarter despite the continued hard-fought, battled effort from the Fighting Hawks. Demers and Hughes teamed up for back-to-back buckets to shrink a once-15-point spread down to 11, but a 10-1 run from the home team halted the effort. Just four field goals were made in the final four-and-a-half minutes—all from the Bison—that solidified the 95-70 score.
 
Post-Game Notes 

• Mackenzie Hughes hit the 2000-career-point mark with her eighth point in the second quarter
• UND faced just a one-point deficit at the half
• Despite attempting 15 less free throws than the host, UND held a better shooting percentage (85-percent vs 83-percent)
• NDSU held the rebounding advantage 42-25
• NoDak found 18 points off the bench and 24 points in the paint
• There were 18 lead changes and five ties in Saturday's affair
• NoDak's three regular season conference wins mark the lowest since the 2020-21 season (2)

  
How It Happened 
Q1: North Dakota 15, North Dakota State 17
Q2: North Dakota 38, North Dakota State 39
Q3: North Dakota 59, North Dakota State 71
Q4: North Dakota 70, North Dakota State 95
 
Up Next
The postseason will begin for North Dakota at the Summit League Basketball Championships in Sioux Falls, S.D., with action beginning on Wednesday, March 4. Full brackets are yet to be announced.

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