After a good home win against a solid Wyoming squad, the UND Women’s Basketball team headed out west to Montana to take on old Big Sky Rivals Montana State and Montana. Given they were picked as the top two teams in the Big Sky, this would be a good measuring stick to see where UND was at.
Unfortunately, like it was in the Big Sky, when you travel to the Montanas, you usually come up empty. UND took two tough losses against the Lady Cats and the Lady Griz to even their record at 2-2.
Friday
Montana State 77, North Dakota 66
UND in the first half brought an excellent defensive effort to the floor, against a taller Bobcats lineup, they crashed the boards hard, played tough defense, and made things very difficult for MSU. Holding the Cats to 8-34 shooting (23.5%) was an excellent defensive performance and crashing the boards lead to a 31-19 Rebounding advantage.
However… an old bug-a-boo came to haunt UND: Turnovers. Despite holding MSU to 23.5% shooting, UND turned the ball over 17 times in the first half. To put this number in perspective, UND only turned the ball over 14 times combined in their first two games. This, combined with UND still not shooting the greatest from the field (only 32.4% from the field) only allowed UND to have a 29-27 lead at the half.
In the 2nd half, UND did their best to jump out to a 35-29 lead in the first two minutes. However, The Lady Cats began to assert themselves in the third quarter and raced off on a 19-4 Bobcat run. 5 UND turnovers during that stretch did not help matters. UND did managed to cut the deficit down to 4 at the end of the quarter.
While there was zero turnovers in the 4th quarter, UND just couldn’t get enough offense in the 4th quarter and the Lady Cats finish strong from the field and the free throw line to come away with the 10 point win.
Kacie Borowicz had 20 points in the contest, Jolene Daninger had 12 points and 9 rebounds, Nakiyah Hurst chipped in 10 points in 11 minutes.
The 24 turnovers in the 3 quarters was the painful difference in this ballgame for UND, 17 of them in the first half. Cut those in half and UND probably comes away with the victory.
Sunday
Montana 81, North Dakota 77
UND had a decent first half in forcing several Lady Griz turnovers and an explosive half from Kacie Borowicz. They also took advantage of a cold shooting performance from the Lady Griz and got the lead up to 14 points in the middle of the 2nd quarter. A little run at the end of the 2nd quarter cut the lead down to 5, but UND had to feel really well going into the 2nd half.
Then the third quarter happened and Montana went insane from the field. They hit 15-20 from the field and went 6-7 from 3. It was the ultimate drought buster for a team that was struggling shooting. It was the difference in the ball game. UND actually shot the ball decent in the quarter from the field and from 3, but it wasn’t enough to stop the deluge.
The 4th was an even quarter, despite every push that UND tried to make to retake the lead, the Lady Griz always seem to have an answer that pushed the lead back out. UND had a chance to tie the game with 30 seconds left in the game, but couldn’t get the bucket they needed and the Griz sealed it with two free throws down the other end.
In the grand sceme of things, UND played well enough to win. However, when your opponent goes insane from the field in the 2nd half, sometimes you have to tip your hat to the other team and say, you got us. Could UND had padded the lead in the first quarter? Potentially, but when your opponent basically hit every shot in the field in a quarter, there isn’t much you really can do.
Kacie Borowicz had a monster game, scoring 35 points on 14-29 shooting, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Claire Orth chipped in with 10 points to give UND 2 double figured scorers.
The free throw stat was massivly in the favor of the home team (19-26 for the Griz, 9-10 for UND), especially in the 4th quarter.
A tough road trip, but the team can’t dwell on it for long. It is back on the road and heading down to Arizona to take apart of the Grand Canyon MTE starting tomorrow, and to see an old friend in the process.