CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The North Dakota State women's basketball team (4-5) fell at Northern Iowa (2-6) on Thursday, Dec. 11, inside the McLeod Center, 56-41. The Bison scored just 16 points in the second half and struggled shooting the basketball in the stanza, going 6-for-26 from the field for 23 percent.

Senior Brooke LeMar led NDSU with 12 points, while junior forward Holly Johnson netted 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting. LeMar matched her career-high with nine boards in the contest, and junior Marena Whittle also pulled down nine rebounds. Whittle also matched her career-high with a game-high five steals.

North Dakota State shot 32 percent from the field in the game, going 18-for-56, and failed to connect from three-point range, going 0-for-10. The Bison went 5-for-7 at the free-throw line for 71 percent. The Bison outrebounded UNI, 41-40, and posted a 30-20 scoring advantage in the paint.

Freshman Ellie Herzberg paced the Panthers, netting a game-high 14 points on 6-for-12 shooting, and sophomore Madison Weekly also reached double figures for UNI with 10 points. Sophomore Alyssa Johnson led Northern Iowa on the glass with a game-high 10 rebounds.

UNI shot 34 percent from the field in the contest, making 21 out of 61 attempts, and were 6-for-31 from beyond-the-arc for 19 percent. Northern Iowa converted eight free-throws on 13 attempts for 62 percent.

After the Bison went into halftime with a 25-23 lead, Northern Iowa used an 11-1 run from 19:35 to 16:13 remaining in the second half to gain a 34-26 advantage. NDSU trimmed the lead to four, 37-33, after a Whittle layup with 13:59 to go, but UNI responded with a 9-0 spurt to increase its lead to 46-33 with 10:40 to go. The Bison could not get any closer than 10 the remainder for the game.

North Dakota State is scheduled to continue its four game road trip at New Mexico State on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 2 p.m. MT (3 p.m. CT).