GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Led by a career-high 14 points by freshman forward Madi Buck, the Fighting Sioux women's basketball team defeated Mayville State 88-54 in non-conference action at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. A native of Bismarck, N.D., Buck keyed a balanced attack against the Comets (4-18) that finished with six UND players in double figures and the Sioux (10-13) with a season-high 20 steals.
"I knew their legs were going to be a little bit tired today, but I give our players a lot of credit for stepping it up and getting it going," said UND head coach Gene Roebuck. "We made Mayville State run with us and that was the name of the game right there.
Joining Buck in double figures was senior forward Mallory Youngblut (Davenport, Iowa) and freshman forward Megan Lauck (Arden Hills, Minn.), who finished with 13 points apiece. Youngblut finished the first half with just six points, but with the help of back-to-back layups in the second half, she hit double figures for the 55th time in her career.
Lauck had a near perfect game finishing 4-for-6 from the field, 3-for-3 behind the arc and 2-for-2 at the free throw line for her fifth straight double figure game. She also added seven rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots, and a steal.
Scoring 12 points apiece were senior forward Corey Lof and freshman center Allyssa Wall (North Sioux City, S.D.). Wrapping up the high scoring list was junior guard Charnay Mothershed (Phoenix, Ariz.) with 10 points.
A native of Detroit Lakes, Minn., Lof led the Sioux with a career high seven assists. As a team, UND finished with 26 assists, just three shy of the season-best 29 dished out against Houston Baptist (Jan. 29).
"Corey had a heck of a game today," said Roebuck. "She is high energy and just kept going and going tonight. That's the thing about Corey, she steps up and really plays hard. She really went at it tonight and had a very nice game for us."
Wall added seven rebounds, four blocked shots and three assists while Mothershed went 3-for-7 from the field, 1-for-2 behind the arc, and 3-for-6 at the line for her first double figure game since scoring 18 points against Western Kentucky (Jan. 10).
The Sioux shot 44.6 percent (33-for-74) from the field, 31.8 percent (7-for-22) behind the arc, and 65.2 percent (15-for-23) at the free throw line. Taking advantage of the height differential, UND won the rebounding battle 48-40. The Sioux also took advantage of Mayville State's ball handling mistakes by converting the Comets' 28 turnovers into 39 points.
The Comets were led by Hannah Wenaas, who finished with 12 points on 4-for-9 shooting at three-point range. Angela Tauer and Laura Taylor scored nine points each and Kay Laforet finished with eight points.
Mayville State shot 31.4 percent (16-for-51) from the field, 25.9 percent (7-for-27) beyond the arc, and 62.5 percent (15-for-24) at the free throw line.
It was a shaky start for the Sioux, who went without a basket in the opening two and a half minutes of play, until the UND freshmen class stepped in to get UND on the board. At 17:36, Wall hit the first of two short jumpers to give the Sioux the 4-3 lead. Mayville State regained the lead with a jumper of its own, but Lauck answered with a three-pointer off of a pass from Wall to give UND the 7-5 lead.
Leading by just two points heading into the 15-minute mark, the Fighting Sioux couldn't shake Mayville State as the Comets kept pace. At 8:29 in the first half, a layup by Lof off of another pass from Wall gave UND a five-point lead and jumpstarted a much needed 12-0 run. Wall hit the next basket and then Youngblut quickly followed with her first three-pointer of the game. After a steal by Mothershed put the ball back in the hands of the Sioux, Buck hit a pair from the free throw line to make it 28-16 with 7:02 on the clock.
Thirty seconds later, junior guard Charnise Mothershed (Phoenix, Ariz.) swiped the ball from Wenaas and with a two-on-one heading down the court, she dished off to sister Charnay for the easy lay in to give North Dakota a 30-16 lead.
The Comets tried to chip away at the lead, but the Sioux kept them at arm's length as the game went into the half with UND leading 39-23.
Back out of the break, the Sioux wasted no time and with a 14-2 run right out of the gate, they built a 53-25 lead with just under 15 minutes remaining.
Mayville answered with a 14-5 run of its own to cut the margin down to 19 points, but with a layup by Buck at 11:32, the Sioux led 60-39.
Over the course of the next 11 and a half minutes, eight different players helped the Sioux out-score the Comets 26-15 as UND extended its unbeaten record over Mayville State to 27-0.
North Dakota will get back to Great West Conference action the Saturday as it travels to Orem, Utah, to take on Utah Valley. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m. Check FightingSioux.com for coverage details.
GAME NOTES: With 12 points on the night, Allyssa Wall surpassed both Peggy Wehage (1984-85; 261 points) and Jenny Boll (1999-00; 261 points) on UND's all-time freshman scoring list. She now ranks eighth all-time in freshman scoring with 267 points ... Mallory Youngblut is now ranked 20th all-time at UND with 1,178 points. With 13 points on the night, she surpassed Carissa Jahner (2003-07), who was listed at No. 20 with 1,165 career points. Youngblut is also listed No. 5 with 531 career three-point attempts and is fifth in career three-pointers made (207) ... North Dakota leads the all-time series over Mayville State 27-0. The Fighting Sioux are 23-0 in Grand Forks, 3-0 in Mayville, and 1-0 on neutral ground ... Since the inaugural season of the Great West Conference (2008-09), UND has gone 16-3 against league foes and 29-36 against non-conference opponents ... The University of North Dakota women's basketball program holds a 778-294 record all-time since the first game was played in 1974. Under head coach Gene Roebuck, UND is 602-130 ... All-time, the Fighting Sioux are 426-83 (.836) when it comes to defending their own court and are 331-39 (.893) under the tutelage of Gene Roebuck ... UND is 91-14 (.861) all-time at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center, which opened prior to the 2004-05 season.
- Go Sioux -
