GREELEY, Colo.-- First-place Northern Colorado used a 27-10 third quarter to bounce back from a 10-point halftime deficit en route to a 51-45 win Saturday afternoon at Bank of Colorado Arena in Big Sky Conference play.

A month ago, UND trailed by 14 at halftime only to out-score the Bears, 25-8, in the third quarter to win. This time, UNC trailed by 10 at the break and posted a 27-10 score in the third to take command.

Lexi Klabo led UND with 16 points and eight rebounds, surpassing 1,000 career points in the process. She becomes the 36th UND player to reach that plateau and just the 14th to do so before her senior season.

“Too many turnovers tonight, but the effort was there and the tenacity has got to keep getting better,” UND head coach Travis Brewster said. “The big thing about the game was that it was good for us to play on the road one final time to get us prepared for Reno (and the Big Sky Conference Tournament).”

UND (12-15, 5-11), which had beaten three teams that were in first place in the Big Sky standings when they met, was geared up for another one. The Fighting Hawks held UNC (21-6, 13-3) to just three field goals in each of the first two quarters and held leading-scorer Savannah Smith without a point in building a 10-point lead at halftime, 26-16.

It was fast, aggressive play from junior Grace Sawatzke-- making her fifth start of the season-- that got the fire lit. She would score eight points in the first half and North Dakota appeared ready to hand its rival a sixth consecutive defeat in their all-time series.

Just as in January, the trailing team came out with the upper hand in the third. UNC and Smith got going early and often, running off 20 of 22 points during one stretch, to out-score the Hawks 27-10 and take a 43-36 lead with 10 minutes to go.

UND attempted to cut into the deficit in the fourth behind Klabo. She would calmly drain a pair of free throws to surpass her personal milestone then had a couple key makes as the lead dwindled to four with 90 seconds remaining. North Dakota, however, missed on its final three field goal attempts in the final minute and the Bears escaped with a 51-45 win, clinching at least a share of the Big Sky Conference regular season title.

Sawatzke finished the night with eight points, two boards and two assists. Chastity Franklin had four points, six rebounds and two steals for North Dakota.

North Dakota heads home to play out the regular season. UND hosts Sacramento State Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. before the home finale Friday afternoon against Portland State at 3:00 p.m.