BROOKINGS, S.D. – Senior Melissa Leet recorded a career night off the bench against Summit League co-leaders South Dakota State (13-2, 6-0 Summit) in the series finale, scoring a new-high 18 points with eight rebounds, but the senior’s effort fell short for UND (0-13, 0-7 Summit) in Frost Arena, 66-44.
“We knew heading into tonight that we needed to do a better job defensively after Friday night’s game, and we wanted to get South Dakota State under the basket because that’s where we think our strengths are and it worked because they weren’t find a lot of success around the perimeter . I thought we did a good job of making them work for their points and we put ourselves in good situations but we need to do a better job of finishing offensively,” said Interim Head Coach Mallory Bernhard.
“We were really happy with what Leet did tonight,” Bernhard added. “She’s a player that has some fire within her and can really get us going when she’s on the floor. She hit both of our three-pointers tonight and her size gives a lot of teams matchup problems with her ability down low and in the perimeter.”
After starting the opening frame in a 10-0 hole and trailing 15-4, UND rallied with an 8-0 run of its own to close the gap to three points with 2.5 minutes left in the quarter. However, the Jacks extended its lead to seven at the quarter and eventually to 15 at the end of the half, 33-18.
After tallying six points in the first half to lead the Fighting Hawks offense, Leet amassed 12 in the final 20 minutes, running the floor for 15 minutes and going a flawless 4-of-4 from the field with a 3-for-5 clip at the free-throw line.
With the Palmer, Alaska native running the UND offense, the Fighting Hawks shot 40-percent in the third quarter, converting six of their 15 shot attempts in the period. With teams shooting coldly behind the three-point line in the half, a combined 3-for-21, the Hawks and Jacks both scored 18 points in the paint each.
North Dakota will return to action next weekend, returning home to host Western Illinois Jan. 29 and Jan. 30 at The Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. Both game will tip at 5 p.m., and will be broadcasted on MidcoSN2, 100.3 FM The Cat in Grand Forks and 740 AM The Fan in Fargo.
Game Recap: Women’s Basketball | 1/23/2021 7:45:00 PM | Matt Scheerer, FightingHawks.com
