Bison Women Start Season 2-1

The NDSU women’s basketball team started their season campaign with a hot start. The Bison defeated Harvard 81-72 Friday to open the season and followed up with big 111-75 win over Mayville State Sunday. NDSU then suffered their first loss of the season Tuesday at Boise State, 80-61.

Harvard proved to be a tough test for the Bison. In a tight contest, the largest lead of the first half was seven when Hannah Linz nailed a 3-pointer at the 6:43 mark to put the Bison up 25-18.

Harvard battled back and cut the deficit to one, but NDSU did not give up the lead. The Bison went into halftime with a 38-33 advantage after center Janae Burich snagged an offensive rebound and laid the ball in at the buzzer.

The second half was a continuation of the tight battle. Harvard remained on NDSU’s heels and answered every Bison score with one of its own. NDSU gradually pulled away by scoring off of Harvard miscues. The Bison gained their first double-figure lead of the game at 71-60 with 3:12 left after a Marena Whittle offensive putback.

NDSU hit free throws down the stretch to dash away any Harvard hope for a comeback, ending the game with an 81-71 victory.

The Bison continued their hot offensive play Sunday against Mayville State, scoring 111 points, led by Katie Birkel’s 18. NDSU shot 56.1 percent from the field in the first quarter to hold a 55-34 halftime edge.

NDSU started the second half on an 8-0 run, indicative of how the second half would play out. Both teams hit shots but the Bison did not falter their large lead once, winning 111-75.

“I think a lot of things were working for us early on today,” Liz Keena, who finished the game with 14 points, said after the Mayville State game. “We looked to get (the ball) into our posts, we really looked to move the ball, and just play our game.”

The hot start the Bison were accustomed to did not occur in their loss to Boise State. The Broncos scored the game’s first nine points and led by as many as 24 in a dominating 80-61 win over NDSU.

Following the run to open the game, the Bison battled back to reduce the lead to 15-10, but Boise State produced a 14-0 run and NDSU never got the game back to a single-digit deficit.

Getting shots off wasn’t a problem for the Bison, who only committed eight turnovers. The problem was knocking down those shots. NDSU shot a poor 28.2 percent from the field. Dani DeGagne led that Bison offensive performance with 19 points.

NDSU (2-1) will be in action again at 3 p.m. Saturday as they host Northern Iowa.

Quotes courtesy of GoBison.com highlight video