FARGO, N.D. – The North Dakota State women's basketball team topped North Dakota, 95-70, to secure its first outright Summit League regular season title in program history on Saturday afternoon inside the Scheels Center at the Sanford Health Athletic Complex in front of 2,944 fans.

With the win, the Bison improved to 26-3 (15-1 Summit) to close out regular season play and secured their first regular season conference championship since 2004. NDSU finished the regular season with 15 Summit League wins, which is the most in program history.

Avery Koenen led the way with 29 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and tied a career-high 13 free throws on 16 attempts. She also hauled in a game-high 15 rebounds for her 19th double-double of the season. Molly Lenz and Abby Krzewinski both added 14 points with four rebounds, while Marisa Frost contributed 12 points with a game-high four assists. Karrington Asp rounded out the group with 11 points and three rebounds coming off the bench.

As a team, the Bison shot 49.2 percent (30-61) from the field and 42.9 percent (6-14) from three. NDSU also drained a season-high 29 free throws on 35 attempts with seven different players contributing at least one.

After leading 39-38 at the half, the Bison used a key 7-0 run to start the third quarter to stretch the edge to 46-38 after Frost connected on a jumper at the 7:58 mark. NDSU then closed the frame two jumpers from Lenz and buzzer-beating jumper from Koenen to push the lead to 71-59 after three. The Bison went on to hold off the Fighting Hawks (7-23, 3-13 Summit) the rest of the way to pick up the 95-70 win.

NDSU will be the top seed in the Summit League Tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D., next week. The full bracket and matchups will be released at a later time.