OGDEN, Utah -- A gritty second-half effort helped visiting UND wipe away a once 13-point deficit to host Weber State Thursday in a 57-54 Big Sky Conference win. UND trailed by eight at the break and came out with a renewed defensive effort that forced 15 Wildcat turnovers after the break and UND withstood a furious final-minute rally to win its fourth straight.

"Toady we finished the game but we can do better and have done better," UND head coach Travis Brewster said. "We were up nine with 38 seconds left. We must remain calm and confident in each other in the game and as the season goes on. I thought that Leah Szabla did a great job trying to control the game. We have to adjust as we go along as people adjust to us in our conference."

Szabla continued her solid play of late, scoring 10 first-half points including two of UND's just five field goals in the opening period. North Dakota stayed in it thanks to good free throw shooting, making 76 percent from the charity stripe to help offset 26 turnovers to an upset-minded Wildcat team that had won three of its previous four.

Trailing 31-23 at halftime, UND made eight of its first ten shots from the field to start the second half, and forced the Wildcats to miss their first five shots. The lead was erased on a Makailah Dyer layup iwth 16:08 left, part of her team-high-tying 13 points on the night. It would be a 9-0 run to start the frame as Bailey Strand added a free throw for UND's first lead at 32-31.

After the Widcats briefly reclaimed the lead, Megan Lauck answered with a jumperto climb back in front. WSU (8-12, 3-6) got back in front one final time on a steal and layup form Regina Okoye with just under five minutes to play but again North Dakota went on a run, scoring 11 of the next 14 points to claim its largest advantage at nine with 38 seconds left. That's when it got wild.

Brianna Averette knocked down a pair of free throws to make it seven. Then, after two free throw misses by UND, Jalen Carpenter's putback made it five. A UND turnover and another Carpenter layin made it just three with under ten seconds remaining. Another UND miscue gave WSU the ball back and Averette drove and scored to slice the lead all the way down to a single point. Dyer was fouled on the inbounds and made a pair of big free throws then knocked away the desparation pass in the final second to seal the win.  

UND's leading scorer and rebounder, Mia Loyd, had just four points and three rebounds in the win.

UND shot 12-18 (66.7%) from the field and forced 15 Weber turnovers in the second half to help ice it.

Szabla and Dyer each had 13 for UND to lead the team. Szabla also had six rebounds and added two assists. Emily Evers also scored nine points and grabbed six rebounds.

North Dakota heads to Idaho State for a Saturday tilt with the Bengals. Tip is slated for 3:00 p.m. Central.