FARGO, N.D. - Feb. 14 - Southern Utah women's basketball came back to
tie the game at 50-50 late in the second half on Saturday night in
Fargo, but came up short down the stretch as North Dakota State was
8-of-10 from the charity stripe over the final 1:30 of the game to seal
a 68-57 victory for the Bison. The loss drops the Thunderbirds to 8-16
overall and 4-16 in The Summit League, while NDSU moves to 11-11 and
9-5 in league play.
The Bison opened the game with an old-fashioned 3-point play followed by a lay-up by Jill Zaruba to capture a quick 5-0 lead. However, Southern Utah settled into its groove to take its first lead of the game (12-11) on a lay-up by Anne Westwood Higbee with 12:48 to play. The T-Bird advantage grew to as much as four (19-15) three minutes later as Caitlyn Sears drained a 3-pointer with 10:04 on the clock.
North Dakota State countered with a 9-2 run over the next four minutes to swing the momentum back to the home side, eventually finishing the half on a 8-0 run to take an 11-point lead (36-25) into the intermission.
NDSU's Ashley Samuelson scored the first basket of the second half to give the Bison a 13-point lead, before Southern Utah began to chip away at the lead with a 7-0 run over a three minute span followed by a 14-4 run during a four-minute span. The runs tied the game at 50-50 and then put the Thunderbirds on top 52-50 on back-to-back free throws by Higbee.
However, Southern Utah was out scored 16-5 over the final seven minutes of the game, including back-to-back 3-point shots from NDSU's Inger Hodgson to spark the final Bison run. The blitz also included 8-of-10 free throws down the stretch to seal the Thunderbirds' fate in the 57-68 defeat.
Higbee led the Thunderbirds with 15 poitns and ten rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season while moving into No. 5 all-time in career scoring in Southern Utah women's basketball history, surpassing Denise Muir (1984-87, 1047) with 1.053. Her ten rebounds also catapulted her into No. 3 all-time in rebounds with 721, passing Sarah Mortensen (1997-2001, 718) on the career list.
Higbee was joined in double figures by Dani Hosking with 11 points while Challis Pascucci narrowly missed a double-double of her own with nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
North Dakota State had four players in double figures as the team only played seven players because of an injury-depleted bench.
Southern Utah will be back in action on Monday night when the Thunderbirds travel to face the league-leading Jackrabbits of South Dakota State. SDSU is currently ranked as high as No. 21 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll and No. 23 by the Associated Press. Tip-off for the game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
