FARGO, N.D. – The North Dakota State women's basketball team netted a season-high 14 triples in the 83-71 win over Omaha on Saturday afternoon at Scheels Center.
With the win, NDSU extends its win streak to three games and improved to 12-5 (6-1 Summit) on the season. The Bison also stayed unbeaten at home moving to 8-0 at Scheels Center.
Heaven Hamling led the way for the NDSU with a team-high 26 points on 6-of-13 shooting from three. She also added six rebounds, six assists and three steals to her stat line. Hamling reached the 1,000 career points mark for her NDSU career with 1,005. The Grand Rapids, Minn., native has posted 1,179 points over four seasons, including one at Stephen F. Austin State.
Elle Evans also notched her first career 20-point game with a career-high 20 points to go along with six rebounds and two steals.
Taylor Brown added in 11 points with two rebounds, while
Emily Behnke notched nine points with six rebounds.
As a team, NDSU connected on a season-high 14 triples on 31 attempts with six different players contributing at least one. That total ranks tied for the sixth-most in a single-game in NDSU history. The Bison also shot 45.6 percent (26-57) from the field and 85.0 percent (17-20) from the free throw line.
After the Bison grabbed a 21-19 lead after the first quarter, NDSU started the second frame on an 8-2 run to increase their lead to 29-21 following a triple from Evans with 7:56 to play in the half. The Mavericks pushed back with seven straight points of their own to cut the deficit down to one, 29-28, after Aaliyah Stanley connected on a pair of three throws at the 5:16 mark. NDSU closed out the half building up a four-point edge, 37-33.
Both teams traded points throughout the third quarter until NDSU assembled a 5-0 run to close the frame after a pair of free throws from Evans and a triple from Hamling to increase the edge to 55-48. The Bison carried the momentum into the fourth quarter extending their lead up to 11, 65-54, after Hamling delivered a triple with 6:12 to play. NDSU went on to hold off Omaha the rest of the way to earn the 83-71 win.
The Bison will be back in action at Oral Roberts on Thursday night. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.
