FARGO, N.D.. — Local standout Lexi Klabo etched her second career double-double with a career-high-tying 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead visiting North Dakota to a convincing 76-55 win over host North Dakota State at Scheels Center Saturday evening in non-conference play. UND earned its seventh consecutive win over NDSU and fifth since joining NCAA Division I.
Senior Makailah Dyer led all scorers with 20 for North Dakota on 7-of-11 shooting. Leah Szabla added 11 points while Fallyn Freije recorded a new career best with nine rebounds.
"When you look at our team, we were a little tight, we had to get loose and play some defense and shared the basketball," UND head coach Travis Brewster said. "We told them that you have to play some defense and that will help get everything else going. I thought we saw some good things out of our players, being better about sharing the basketball in the second half. We got better with our shot selection.
"It's a nice thing for all the people here before us, we're just the caretakers of it right now. We have to continue to keep it going the right way."
Klabo, a Fargo native, did not start after nursing an injury but made up for lost time by collecting her second career double-double in the win. She helped UND pull out of a first--quarter slow start by getting to the free throw line.
NDSU (1-9) led 8-2 early on before UND was able to pull even at 10-all through a sluggish first quarter. In the second, a key defensive stretch sparked a run that saw UND begin to pull away. It was a seven-point game at the break then North Dakota really piled it on in the third.
Coming out of the locker room, the visitors quickly made it a double-digit advantage with Szabla layups book-ending a Klabo three for a 42-29 edge. UND did not allow a field goal over the final 4:26 of that period to build a 53-35 cushion.
A pair of Dyer threes and another by Bailey Strand midway through the final frame saw the Fighting Hawks' lead balloon to 29 as they raced away with its seventh straight win over its in-state rival.
UND had six players with at least eight points as Samantha Roscoe added nine while Freije and Strand each contributed eight. Szabla's stat line was 11 points, five steals and four assists as she scored in double figures in all four wins over NDSU in her career.
UND (3-5) hosts Mary Tuesday at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Tip is slated for 7:00 p.m.
Notes: Saturday's win was the most lop-sided win in the series since a Mar. 1, 2002 UND win at home in the North Central Conference Tournament ... NDSU failed to reach 60 points in back-to-back games in the series for the first time since 1984 ... Klabo's other double-double was a 15-point, 10-rebound effort at Texas Tech (Nov. 13) ... Saturday was Dyer's 14th career 20-point game ... UND improves to 11-3 against Summit League teams since joining Division I.
