North Dakota State wears down UND to win first regular season conference championship since 2004
· Yahoo Sports
Feb. 28—FARGO — A rivalry win, a Senior Night win and a net-cutting ceremony to boot.
Visit lebandit.lat for more information.
It's hard to get much sweeter than that.
North Dakota State buckled down after a shaky first half to beat UND (7-23, 3-13) 95-70 Saturday afternoon at Scheels Center.
The Bison clinched the Summit League regular season championship with the win, their first since winning the North Central Conference in 2004.
They'll enter the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed, boasting a 26-3 overall record, 15-1 in league play.
Star junior forward Avery Koenen, who led NDSU with 29 points and 15 rebounds, cut down the net for the first time since high school.
"I have (cut down a net) in high school, but this is almost a little bit better," Koenen said. "We know what we're playing for, and that's not going to come easy. It's not going to be easy, especially when you're in a rivalry game. So just to go out and be ourselves and be confident, we did that."
For head coach Jory Collins, it was the first net he's cut down since 2017, when he was head coach of Emporia State in 2017.
"A long time," Collins said. "I wanted to do that with this group, wanted to share it with a special group of players. A lot of joy, a lot of appreciation for our group. Just all the time we put into it, and it's great to see the fruits of your labor."
The Fighting Hawks made Koenen work for her points. She shot 13-for-16 at the free-throw line, accounting for nearly half of North Dakota State's 35 attempts.
The Bison shot 49.2% from the field and 29-for-35 from the stripe.
"Avery and Karrington (Asp) and just tough on the inside," Collins said. "They did a good job of being assertive this game and got to the free-throw line quite a bit."
Though the Hawks entered halftime trailing 39-38, they entered the third quarter in some major foul trouble.
Senior center Walker Demers, sophomore forward Ava Miller and sophomore guard Mataeya Mathern each had three personal fouls through the first two quarters.
"It's hard, especially when you're going up against a player like Avery, who's very, very good," UND head coach Dennis Hutter said. "We were trying to do some different things, and we just struggled there a little bit. It's hard because you don't know where to go or what to do."
The Hawks had just three turnovers in the first half, made six 3-pointers and shot 41.1% from the field in one of their best starts of the season.
The Bison, however, wasted no time in capturing momentum in the second half. Senior guard Abby Graham hit a triple and made two free throws, and sophomore guard Marisa Frost finished off the 7-0 run with a jumper.
"That was them realizing what's at stake for them," Hutter said. "They want to let everybody know that, hey, if you're going to hang with us, elevate your game. They went out and elevated their game, it's what championship teams do. And we're trying to elevate to that level. I thought that's what they did, and we obviously did not match it. Kind of slowed it down, but we weren't able to get that back."
NDSU outscored UND 56-32 through the final two quarters.
"I think we came out a little flat," graduate guard Mackenzie Hughes said. "They came out guns ablazing in the (second half), which we can't have the first five minutes of the third quarter, it's the most important part of the game."
Hughes led the Hawks with 23 points. She reached 2,000 career points with a free throw late in the second quarter.
UND will open the Summit League tournament against ninth-seeded Omaha on Wednesday. The winner will advance to the quarterfinals and play North Dakota State on Thursday.