CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The North Dakota State women's basketball team scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to help pick up at 63-49 win in the season opener at Northern Iowa on Monday night at McLeod Center.

Avery Koenen led the way with a double-double tying a career-high 15 rebounds to go along with 11 points. The Montevideo, Minn., native scored all 11 of her points in the second half over 27 minutes of work. Karrington Asp posted 11 points with five rebounds in her collegiate debut, while Jocelyn Schiller contributed 11 points with three rebounds, two assists and two steals in her Bison debut. Molly Lenz also reached double digits in scoring with 11 points, six rebounds and three assists.

As a team, the Bison shot 33.9 percent (20-59) from the field and 72.7 percent (16-22) from the free throw line. NDSU also hauled in 45 rebounds and the bench netted 22 points with nine total players reaching the scoring column.

After the Bison (1-0) opened up an 11-point lead at the break, 32-21, Northern Iowa (0-1) assembled a 10-2 run to cut the edge down to four, 40-36, with a triple from Abby Tuttle with 41 seconds to play in the third quarter. NDSU answered in the fourth frame shooting 54.5 percent from the field to push its lead up to 52-40 after Schiller drilled a three-pointer with 5:14 remaining. The Bison went on to hold off the Panthers the rest of the way to secure the 63-49 win.

NDSU will open its home schedule hosting Gonzaga on Friday night. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m., inside the Scheels Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex.