Sports

Bobcat Women cruise to victory over North Dakota

Posted: Jan 12, 2013 9:25 PM by MTN Sports

BOZEMAN - Montana State rattled off nine unanswered points over a four-minute span to open the game and shot 50 percent from the field in the first half to build a lead it would never relinquish, en route to a 64-49 win over North Dakota, Saturday afternoon in front of 1,513 fans in Worthington Arena.

A Kalli Durham free throw at the 13:05 mark of the first stanza gave Montana State (11-4, 5-1) a seven-point advantage. The Bobcats built the margin to 34-21 at intermission.

"I'm proud of the way we were able to maintain the consistency of our strengths in the first half," said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. "In the past two games, we've come out with good energy. We've done a nice job playing with the lead."

MSU took its largest lead of the contest at 39-22 following a Rachel Semansky layup at the 18:10 mark to open the second half. North Dakota (7-8, 2-4) whittled the margin down to nine points at the midway point, but MSU responded with five straight points to put the game away.

"I thought we did a nice job getting the ball inside, and getting good looks from the outside," Binford said. "Obviously, we need to do a better job knocking down our shots, but I liked our shot selection."

Semansky paced all scorers with a game-best 15 points, while Durham 14 and Latisha Adams 12 also hit double-figures. The Bobcats finished the game shooting 41 percent from the floor.

Both teams battled evenly under the boards. Ashley Brumwell guided MSU with a team-high eight rebounds, while Semansky and freshman guard Lindsay Stockton each added six. In addition, the Bobcats turned the ball over just nine times, while forcing 17 UND miscues.

North Dakota was paced in the loss by Madi Buck with 11 points and seven rebounds. UND ended the game shooting 29 percent from the field.

Montana State will play at Big Sky newcomer Southern Utah on Thursday, Jan. 17 in Cedar City to begin a four-game road stretch.