GRAND FORKS, N.D.-- The University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks women's basketball team rallied from down 13 to take a pair of leads in the final quarter, but a late Coyote spurt proved to be too much in a 73-70 South Dakota win Saturday afternoon at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Trailing by eight in the final minute and change, UND closed it to three and had one final chance at a game-tying possession in the closing seconds but a steal by Nicole Seekamp sealed it for the visitors.

Mia Loyd led all scorers with 22 points while adding seven rebounds while junior Leah Szabla had a career-high 21 points for North Dakota.

Szabla was the offfensive spark for North Dakota from the jump as her triple on the first possession gave UND its only lead in the opening stanza. USD would go on a 23-9 run the rest of the frame, piling up a lead as large as 13 at one point.

UND (4-6) had to overcome 16 first-half miscues, but still only trailed by 11 at the half. The Fighting Hawks made their push in the third quarter as they held the 'Yotes to just one field goal over the final 5:39 of that frame to get back into it. The deficit was just one after Makailah Dyer calmly swished a pair of techinical free throws with 40 seconds left in the stanza as UND now had all of the momentum and the backing of a boisterous crowd of 1,532 in attendance. 

In the fourth quarter of this heavyweight bout, Szabla and Dyer each drove to the rim and scored to put UND in front for the first time since the first possession at 50-49. USD would respond quickly on a Nicole Seekamp jumper and then after Loyd pushed UND in front again on a lay-in, Tia Hemiller countered with a bucket to spark an 11-2 Coyote run.

USD would see its lead go back to nine, but never felt comfortable as North Dakota continued to rally back. A Szabla three from the right wing made it 67-61 with just over a minute left. Loyd would make tough buckets underneath on the next two UND trips, but Seekamp answered each with two free throw makes to keep the lead at seven with 36 seconds to go.

Dyer scored on a drive and then after a 1-for-2 trip from the line by USD, Fallyn Freije tripled in front of her bench to keep hope alive at 73-70 with nine seconds left. However, UND needed to foul and had no timeouts remaining. Heidi Hoff badly missed both free throws with six seconds remaining giving UND one final shot at a game-tying basket. As Szabla brought it ahead on the near sidelines, Seekamp jumped the handoff for a steal to thwart any final end-game heroics.

North Dakota heads to the University of Minnesota Wednesday for its final non-conference tilt. Tip time is slated for 3:00 p.m. Central.