FARGO, N.D. – The North Dakota State women's basketball team topped Montana, 72-63, in the second round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) on Monday night at Scheels Center.

With the win, the Bison improve to 22-11 overall and advance to the Super 16 round of the WNIT. NDSU will face of the winner of the Tuesday night matchup between Minnesota and Pacific. The date, time and location of that game will be announced at a later date.

Abbie Draper paced the Bison with 18 points and seven rebounds. Elle Evans added in 17 points with four rebounds, two blocks and one steal. Abby Schulte filled up her stat line with 12 points, five rebounds and a game-high five assists.

As a team, the Bison shot 40.3 percent (25-62) from the field and scored 38 points in the paint. NDSU also shot 17-of-18 from the free throw line after Draper tied a career-high six free throws on six attempts.

After neither led by more than 10 points for the first three frames, the Bison entered the fourth quarter with five-point edge, 55-50, before Schulte sparked NDSU with back-to-back layups to make the score 59-52 with 8:19 to play. The Bison then put together six straight points with four coming from Draper to open up their largest lead of the contest, 72-60, with 57 seconds remaining. NDSU went on to secure its first WNIT win in program history, 72-63.