WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: North Dakota outlasts Northern Illinois 102-99 in WBI event

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Two seasons ago, UND won two women’s basketball games during a pandemic-ravaged season.

On Sunday, the Hawks have a chance to hit the 20-win mark for the season.

In a wild, back-and-forth game, UND outlasted Northern Illinois 102-99 in overtime Saturday during the Women’s Basketball Invitational – a win that improved the Hawks to 19-12 on the season.

UND can hit the 20-win mark against Florida International on Sunday afternoon in the fifth-place game in the eight-team, three-day tournament.

Kacie Borowicz led UND with 35 points as she was one of four Hawks in double figures. Claire Orth added 19, Juliet Gordon 16 and Jolene Daninger 11 as UND trailed late but managed to force overtime in the closing minutes of regulation.

In overtime, the Hawks scored 17 points.

Defense was UND’s focus coming into the tournament but in two games the Hawks allowed 96 and 99 points, but are 1-1.

“I’m telling you, we talked about defense before the game,” UND coach Mallory Bernhard told the Fighting Hawks Radio Network after the game. “We had four keys to the game: defense, defense, defense defense.

“I would have loved to see more defense but I tell you this, they’re a really good team. But our effort, intensity, communication and just the will and want on defense was 10 times better than it was yesterday.”

The Hawks shot 49 percent from the field and 47 (9 of 19) from the three-point stripe. And UND outrebounded NIU – a MAC team – 36-23.

The Huskies, who received 18 points each from Chelby Koker and Grace Hunter, dropped to 16-15.

When UND accepted the chance to play in the WBI, now in its 13th season, the Hawks wanted to gain postseason experience and develop more depth.

“The reason we’re here at this tournament is that we wanted the program to move forward,” said Bernhard. “We wanted to learn how to be a playoff team. We wanted to learn how to get playoff wins. This is a playoff right here. There is a bracket over there staring us in the face and we want to be team slapping our name on that thing.”

Halftime: UND 38, NIU 37

Regulation: UND 85, NIU 85

UND – Jolene Daninger 3-5 3-3 11, Claire Orth 7-14, 4-4 19, Kacie Borowicz 12-19 9-11 35, Sammiyah Hoskin 4-10 0-0 8, Juliet Gordon 6-13 3-4 16, Deja Davis 2-5 2-2 8, Maggie Manson 0-3 0-0 0, Rakiyah Beal 1-2 0-0 2, Nakiyah Hurst 1-2 0-0 3, Miranda Vanderwal 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 36-73, 21-24 102

Northern Illinois – Sidney McCrea 1-4 0-0 2, Jayden Marable 3-5-0-0 8, Chelby Koker 7-16 2-2 18, Grace Hunter 6-8 4-5 18, Tara Stauffacher 3-10 4-4 11, Laura Nickel 5-6 0-0 11, Kortney Drake 0-1 0-0 0, Janae Poisson 1-8 0-0 3, A’Jah Davis 6-9 4-5 16, Emily Meinert 1-3 0-0 2, Moriah Prewitt 0-0 0-0 0, Brooke Stonebraker 4-4 2-2 10. Totals 37-74 14-15 99

Three-pointers – UND 9-19 (Daninger 2-2, Orth 1-2, Borowicz 2-2, Gordon 1-4, Davis 2-3, Manson 0-3, Beal 0-1, Hurst 1-2), NIU 11-30 (McCrea 0-2, Koker 2-8, Hunter 4-5, Stauffacher 1-4, Nickel 1-1, Marable 2-3, Drake 0-1, Poisson 1-6); Rebounds – UND 36 (Gordon 8), NIU 26 (Davis 8); Assists – UND: 14 (Borowicz 6), NIU 18 (Nickel 5)