Women's Basketball 1/23/2010 9:00:00 PM Christy Kramer, UND Athletic Media Relations

Fighting Sioux fall to South Dakota 72-57 in Great West tilt

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Led by a trio of players in double-figures, South Dakota defeated North Dakota 72-57 in the second Great West Conference meeting between the two teams in just seven days. UND and USD played their final regular-season conference game of the season at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in front of 4,189 fans. It was the largest crowd the two teams have ever played in front of in Grand Forks.

The Coyotes, now 8-8, 2-1 GWC, knotted the 2009-10 series at 1-1 and dropped the Fighting Sioux to 6-13 on the season and 2-1 in the conference.

South Dakota took control of the opening half nailing four three-pointers in the first four and a half minutes. USD went on to score 21 of its 37 first half points behind the three-point line. Abby Kinder led the Coyotes in the first 20 minutes with 12 points and Amber Hegge's 15 second half points helped USD to remain in control of the contest.

Hegge led the Coyotes with 19 points and nine rebounds, Kinder was 5-for-8 from beyond the arc to finish with 15 points and Jasmine Mosely scored 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting from the free throw line and 3-for-4 shooting from the field.

The Fighting Sioux were led by junior Mallory Youngblut (G, Davenport, Iowa), who tied her career-high 22 points shooting 7-for-13 from the field, 4-for-7 beyond the arc, 4-for-4 shooting at the free throw line. Youngblut and senior Alys Seay (Grand Forks, N.D.) were the only players to score for UND in the first 15 minutes of the second half.

Seay finished second in scoring for the Sioux with 11 points and Bagaason rounded out the UND high scoring with 10 points.

In the opening half, USD shot over 50 percent (7-for-12) behind the arc and was a perfect 6-for-6 at the charity stripe. The Coyotes finished with an 80 percent (20-for-25) shooting percentage from the free throw line and a .526 (10-for-19) percentage from three-point range.

The Fighting Sioux struggled from the field and behind the arc as they finished 19-for-54 (.352) and 8-for-22 (.364), respectively.

Both teams took advantage of turnovers, but UND won the advantage scoring 17 points on USD mishandlings.

North Dakota will return to the court on Jan. 28 when it travels south to take on Texas-Pan American. The Sioux will remain in the Lone Star State to take on Houston Baptist on Jan. 30.

South Dakota won the tip-off and then quickly jumped out to a 5-0 lead via a layup by Mosley and a three-point basket by Kinder. Corey Lof opened the UND scoring with her 11th career three-pointer and Bagaason followed with a jumper to knot the game at 5-5 with 15:34 on the clock.

The Coyotes pushed the lead to 16-8 on a trio of three-pointers and a field goal by Mosley. By 11:40 USD had already made four of its eventual seven first half treys.

The Fighting Sioux cut the lead down to three on three occasions, but South Dakota continued to push. Inside the four-minute mark Teresa Case hit from beyond the arc to give the Coyote s the 11-point advantage.

The teams went in the half with North Dakota trailing 37-27.

The battle continued through the second half, but the Sioux were unable to recover from the deficit.

GAME NOTES: Alys Seay tallied her 22nd career double-digit game ... Mallory Youngblut tallied her 28th career double-figure game and her 6th career 20-point game ... Corey Lof tied her career high in the three-pointers made ... Kayla Bagaason tallied her 38th career double-figure game. Bagaason has now moved into the No. 8 spot on UND's career three-pointer list. She surpassed Tracey Pudenz who registered 147 from 1991-94 ... North Dakota now holds an NCAA Division I transition record of 24-24 ... Since the move the Sioux are 8-5 in the month of January and 6-4 when playing on a Saturday ... All-time in the Ralph Engelstad Arena the North Dakota women's basketball team holds a 12-3 record. Both other losses have come against North Dakota State ... The Fighting Sioux are 757-281 all-time and 581-117 under head coach Gene Roebuck.