OMAHA, Neb.-- Visiting North Dakota used a stingy defense, especially early-- to lead wire-to-wire in a 72-52 non-conference win at the University of Nebraska Omaha Wednesday afternoon. UND forced bad shots throughout and blocked nine as a team as Omaha misfired on 18 of its first 19 shots from the floor.

"Road games are never easy and we got to figure out another way on the road today to get to 4-1," UND head coach Travis Brewster said. "We did pretty well defensively and found some areas we need to improve as well.  First, we need to value the basketball but for the most part I thought our effort and rebounding was the key for success today. Now, can we take care of business with one more road game this trip? It will be really challenging playing at Western Illinois. We are really looking forward to getting home and play in front of our fans again (Dec. 2)."  

Loyd hit a pair of jumpers to open the scoring and UND never relinquished the lead in a game that was comfortably in favor of the visitors from the onset. After North Dakota built a 15-3 lead with Omaha unable to get anything going offensively, UNO (2-2) finally got its second made field goal , a three from Remy Hamilton almost 12:30 into the game. UND saw it lead diminish to a half-dozen but quickly countered with a three from Megan Lauck to spark an 12-1 run that had the lead back in double figures before the break.

At the half, the UND reserves had nearly outscored the Mavericks with North Dakota getting 13 first-half bench points to take a 32-16 advantage into the locker room. Omaha shot just 16.1 percent in the opening stanza, making 5-of-31 from the floor.

North Dakota's advantage ballooned to 21 in the opening minutes of the second half and the visitors were able to keep the Mavs at bay with solid interior play that produced 38 points combined between junior Mia Loyd (17 points, 12 rebounds), senior Emily Evers (13 points, 12 boards) and sophomore reserve Ellen Kier (career-best eight points). The UND reserves tallied 30 points combined in the win.

Loyd, the reigning co-Big Sky Conference Player of the Week, turned in her second double-double of the season, adding a pair of assists and a steal. Evers' night included four blocks and a steal in 20 minutes of work. Freshman Bailey Strand added 10 points while Kelsey Knox contributed three points, five rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block for North Dakota's fourth consective victory.

North Dakota (4-1)-- winners of four straight-- will continue its road trip Saturday at Western Illinois for a 4:30 p.m. tip.

Notes: Katie Klapprodt made her first appearance of the season, hitting a three-pointer and impriving to 3-3 in her career from three-point range ... Emily Thompson also made her first appearance in a UND basketball uniform ... UND's last 4-1 start came in the 2011-12 season, its last start better than that was 17-0 start to the 2007-08 season (last season of Division II status) ... Samantha Roscoe grabbed two rebounds to etch a new career high ... Strand has scored in double figures twice already this season as a true freshman ... UNO's leading scorer coming into the game, Remy Davenport, was 2-for-15 for just six points Wednesday.