FARGO, N.D. – After playing its last six games on the road, the North Dakota State women's basketball team cruised past Western Illinois to begin Summit League play, 84-60, on Monday night at Scheels Center.

Heaven Hamling paced the Bison (7-4, 1-0 Summit) with a team-best 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field. She also added six rebounds with two assists over a team-high 32 minutes. Taylor Brown poured in 12 points, while Elle Evans reached double figures in scoring for the eighth straight game with 11 points. Abbie Draper rounded out the top performers with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting.

As a team, NDSU shot 47.6 percent (30-63) from the field and 52.6 percent (10-19) from three with 10 different Bison reaching the scoring column. NDSU also passed out a season-best 20 assists, including a game-high eight from Abby Schulte.

NDSU started off fast building a 9-2 lead after Draper connected on a layup in the paint at the 6:13 mark in the first quarter. The Bison then put together a 6-2 run to stretch their lead into double figures, 33-22, following a layup from Abby Graham with 5:36 to play in the half. NDSU led the at the intermission, 45-30.

The Bison began the third quarter on an 8-2 run capped off by Kristina Ekofo Yomane connecting on her first triple of the season to make the score 53-32 with 8:28 to play it the third. NDSU, who never trailed in the contest, then began to pull way opening up its largest lead of the night, 79-53, after Brown netted a layup with 6:57 to play. The Bison went on to close out the rest of the time to pick up the 84-60 win.

NDSU will be back in action hosting St. Thomas on Wednesday. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. at Scheels Center.