CROOKSTON, Minn.--Entering tonight's game at Minnesota, Crookston, the top-ranked Sioux women had been averaging 96 points over its last three outings, thanks largely to the inside play of post players Kierah Kimbrough and Ashley Langen.
UND once again rode that winning formula to victory, cruising past the Golden Eagles for an 88-47 victory, UND's 14th straight win to open the season.
Kimbrough, a Greenbush, Minn., native led all players with 22 points in a dominant 10-for-13 performance from the field. It was the third straight 20-point outing for the junior forward, who came into the game shooting 17-for-19 from the field over her last three games and has now missed just five field goals in 32 attempts during that span.
And she was once again aided by Langen, who quietly put together 10 points and 12 rebounds for her third double-double in four games.
The duo helped UND turn an early 9-6 lead into a first-half blowout, with the Sioux using a 22-1 run midway through the period to put the game out of hand early.
Freshman guard Mallory Youngblut (Davenport, Iowa) jump-started the barrage with a three-pointer just under six minutes into the game, then capped a 10-0 Sioux spurt with another triple three minutes later, giving UND a 19-6 lead with 11:35 on the clock.
Then Kimbrough went to work on the inside, scoring seven points in a 2:23 span that stretched the Sioux lead to 29-7 with 8:25 remaining in the half.
UND was just as sharp on the defensive end, holding the Golden Eagles without a field goal for nearly 10 minutes until UMC's Gina Jaroszewski knocked down a three-pointer to make it 31-10 UND with 7:06 left.
When the first half smoke had cleared, UND had shot 65.5 percent from the field (including three of five three-pointers) and took a 47-21 lead into the locker room.
UND's shooting leveled off to just under 50 percent in the second half, but the Sioux depth was too much for the Golden Eagles to overcome. The outside shooting of sophomore guard Alys Seay (Grand Forks) resulted in 12 points and complemented the inside play of Kimbrough and Langen.
Sophomore forward Whitney Ledger (Bismarck, N.D.) chipped in with 13 points, her fourth outing of double digits off the bench in UND's last four games.
UMC scoring leader Jamie Zelinsky, who was held to 10 points in a 4-for-14 effort from the field, was the lone Golden Eagle to hit double figures.
The Sioux, the top rebounding squad in the North Central Conference, dominated on the glass yet again with a 44-23 rebounding edge. UND has now outrebounded its opponent in all 14 games this season and in 25 games dating back to last February.
UND will now host Jamestown on Saturday in the team's final non-conference test before NCC begins.
Notes: Langen eclipsed the 1,800-point plateau for her career, making her just the fourth player in UND women's basketball history to do so ... After shooting better than 50 percent from the field just once through the first 11 games of the season, UND is shooting 59.6 percent over the last three games, eclipsing the 50-percent mark in each of those games.
###
