FARGO — Kiyah Hurst inbounded the ball for UND with 5.6 seconds left in a two-point game against North Dakota State at Scheels Arena on Saturday in Fargo.
Hurst, who played five minutes in the game, was looking for UND freshman Jocelyn Schiller, who was defended well by Bison freshman Marisa Frost.
Hurst’s pass sailed over Schiller’s head into the backcourt. Frost came up with the steal, and was fouled by Mikayla Aumer.
Frost’s two free throws gave the Bison a 70-66 win.
“We obviously just needed to get that ball in,” UND coach Mallory Bernhard said. “We felt like we had a good play design, and we had seen it play before, with all their icing of ball screens, we were able to get downhill a little bit, but needed to get that ball inbounded to Jocie. Unfortunately, weren’t able to get it into her hands. Felt pretty confident in what we had and what she was going to be able to do on that. Just, sadly, couldn’t get it there.”
“The play that we have is fast enough to have gotten a shot off. We were playing for overtime there, not necessarily a win, but with five seconds, I felt good about what we had.”
UND gave itself a chance with five seconds left after stopping the Bison on the other end.
Frost dribbled under the basket and kicked the ball out of bounds as the shot clock expired.
“The clock was only a five-second differential, so I was OK taking it down as far as we needed to with the two-point lead,” NDSU coach Jory Collins said. “Now, I wanted to get a shot off. I didn’t want to dribble it around and kick it out of bounds with five seconds left. So we didn’t execute that great.”
The Fighting Hawks (8-12) had a 33-30 lead at halftime after the Bison went scoreless from the floor over the final 5 minutes, 27 seconds of the first half.
-Schiller led UND with 20 points. Kiera Pemberton added 17 points and seven rebounds.
Fatima Ibrahim had 10 points, seven rebounds and nine blocks for the Fighting Hawks.
“She’s a pretty good athlete, and obviously her length,” Bernhard said. “Fatima’s progress over the last two years has been really, really incredible to see. She has the defensive side, and she’s adding a little bit of that offensive side as well. We got to see her in a little bit of face-up game and some isolations, and you can see the athleticism that she has on that end, too.”
Walker Demers started for UND but had just two points and five turnovers in 14 minutes of action.
NDSU (14-6) was led by Avery Koenen’s 21 points. She scored 12 points in the fourth quarter.
Abbie Draper had 12 points and nine rebounds, and Frost added 11 points.
The win is NDSU’s sixth in conference play. It’s the only Summit League win for the Bison that came by less than 10 points.
Collins, who is now 10-1 against UND in his career at NDSU, said he considers UND a team to watch as Summit League play enters its final month.
“I thought they played really well,” he said. “They’re playing at a different level than they had before Christmas. Their record is what it is, but they’re playing at a much better level than that indicates, so they’re going to be a factor, I think, the next five, six weeks. I feel like that’s a good team that we just played.”
