GREEN BAY, Wis. – North Dakota State women's basketball dropped its first game of the season on Saturday, falling to Green Bay 71-54 at the Kress Center after a 17-9 second quarter run from the Phoenix flipped a first quarter lead from the Bison.
Ryan Cobbins would lead NDSU (1-1) early with eight points in the first quarter as the junior powered the Bison to a 19-14 first quarter lead. However, Green Bay (1-1) would shut Cobbins down in the second and third, as she wouldn't score again until 4:30 left in the game.
Heaven Hamling would lead the Bison on the afternoon with 20 points on 5-of-13 Shooting, including a trio of three pointers. Cobbins would go on to finish with 10 points, finishing second in scoring, while
Abby Schulte led the Bison off the bench with six points.
Cobbins and
Emily Behnke led NDSU on the glass with five rebounds each.
Reneya Hopkins finished with a team high two steals, while freshman
Katie Hildebrandt recorded the first two blocks of her collegiate career.
Meghan Pingel led Green Bay with 22 points, while Brooklyn Blackburn was the only other player in double figures with 11.
The Bison were 50 percent in shooting from the field in the first quarter, going 6-for-12, but went just 7-for-29 (24.1 percent) the rest of the way to finish with 31.7 percent shooting on the afternoon. Conversely, Green Bay was held to just 35.3 percent (12-for-34) in the first half, but the Phoenix would shoot 52.2 (12-for-23) percent in the second half to pull away from the Bison.
Green Bay would lead 34-4 in points in the paint and also converted 15 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points, while NDSU had just six.
NDSU would get back-to-back three pointers from Hamling and Cobbins to begin the game and the Bison would lead form most of the first half, opening up a 26-19 lead at 7:09 in the second quarter for their biggest lead of the game. With 45 seconds left in the first half, Green Bay would tie the game on a hook shot from Callie Genke and Pingel would add a free throw with four seconds left in the half to give Green Bay the lead for the final lead change in the contest.
The Bison will return to action on Wednesday, November 17 with the home opener, as NDSU welcomes in Northern Iowa for a 7 p.m. tip at the Scheels Center. The game will be televised on WDAY Xtra, as well as ESPN+.
