(UND Athletics) GRAND FORKS — The University of North Dakota women’s basketball team cruised to a 70-56 victory over St. Thomas on Monday night from the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center in Grand Forks, N.D.
UND (8-3, 1-0 Summit League) used a 26-10 advantage in the second quarter to build a lead and never look back to extend its winning streak to six and give the Fighting Hawks their first 1-0 start in Summit League play for the first time since 2019-20.
Kacie Borowicz logged another 20-point outing, pacing all scorers for the 11th straight game with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting to go alongside a trio of rebounds, assists and steals in 30 minutes of action.
Claire Orth put together one of her most complete games of the season, scoring a season-best 18 points a near-perfect night from the field (8-of-9) while grabbing a career-high nine rebounds to just miss her first-career double-double. Maggie Manson made it two straight games in double figures with 10 on a trio of triples to finish as the final Fighting Hawk to eclipse the 10-point plateau.
Nakiyah Hurst also just missed a double-double with nine points and a career-high nine rebounds in 14 minutes of action to combine with Manson for the team’s 19 points off the bench.
North Dakota had a bit of slow start due to the St. Thomas (5-6, 0-1 Summit League) defensive pressure, turning the ball over eight times in the first 10 minutes of action to build only a five-point lead, 19-14, after one quarter.
Entering the second frame, the hosts started to take control with strong defensive pressure of their own mixed with a 10-for-16 (.625) clip from the field as a team to grow the advantage well into double figures as the quarter wore on. The Fighting Hawks used a 20-4 advantage over the final 6:30 of the frame to carry a 45-24 lead into the halftime break.
Out of halftime, NoDak pushed the lead to a game-high 29 with just over three minutes to play in the third, but the Tommies started to chip away in the final stanza. As the visitors cut the deficit to 14 with just over four minutes to play, that was as close as they would get as the Hawks closed out the 70-56 victory.
North Dakota jumps right back into action tomorrow night against Western Illinois at 7 p.m. from the Betty.
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