The Basics
Score: No. 2 North Dakota State 72, No. 7 Denver 60
Records: North Dakota State (20-10, 13-3 SL), Denver (8-22, 5-11 SL)
Location: Denny Sanford PREMIER Center - Sioux Falls, S.D
 


SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 2 North Dakota State dominated the paint in a 72-60 win over No. 7 Denver that sent the Bison into the Summit League Women's Basketball Tournament semifinals. 
 
Senior guard Heaven Hamling led the way with a season-high 25 points in a game in which the Bison outscored the Pioneers 46-18 in the paint. 
 
“We were finishing around the rim and just kept pushing it in there,” said NDSU junior forward Abbie Draper. 
 
The teams traded baskets early, but the Bison broke open what was a 14-14 game with an 11-2 run to end the first quarter. The run was capped by a Hamling first quarter buzzer beater in the paint.
 
NDSU would maintain that separation throughout the half, going into the break with a 39-28 lead. This was in large part because of that advantage down low, but also an active defense that held a potent three-point shooting DU team to just 2-8 from distance. 
 
The Pioneers, however, would fight back. 
 
They flipped the script from distance, starting the third quarter 3-for-4 from the three-point line. DU cut the lead to 53-49 on a Lauren With triple with 2:24 left in the quarter, which had followed an early sequence in which she and Emma Smith (10 points) converted three’s on back-to-back possessions. 
 
That is the closest the game would get, as the Bison extended the lead back out to nine points on an Elle Evans trey with just over a minute left in the third quarter. NDSU then continued its dominance around the basket, outscoring the Pioneers 18-8 in the paint in the fourth quarter to keep the game from tightening up again.
 
“They use their length really well,” said DU sophomore Jordan Jones. 
 
Jones, an all-league second team honoree, led the way for DU with 16 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. 
 
The win marks NDSU’s first in the Summit League Tournament since 2021, and gives the program its first 20-win season at the Division I level. NDSU will meet the winner of No. 3 Oral Roberts and No. 6 North Dakota in Monday’s second semifinal at 3 p.m. CT. 
 
Turning Point 
The 11-2 run to end the first quarter created the early separation, but it was the Evans three and a layup from Avery Koenen over the final 1:11 of the third quarter that pushed the lead back to double digits and extinguished a spirited DU comeback.
 
Inside the Box Score

• Hamling scored 20 points or more in consecutive games for the first time this season after notching 23 points against South Dakota State in the regular season finale. 
• Draper scored 16 points, her 13th time hitting double-figure scoring this season.
• The Bison’s excellence in the paint extended to the glass as well, as they outrebounded the Pioneers 42-28. 
• Pioneers’ sophomore point guard Angelina Robles had 11 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals.

News & Notes 

• The Bison completed a three-game season sweep of the Pioneers, winning by a 21-point margin in both games earlier this year. 
• NDSU is now 4-14 all-time in the tournament with all four wins coming in the quarterfinals (2009, 2020, 2021, 2023).
• The Pioneers are now 2-10 all-time in the tournament having not won since 2014 when DU reached the championship game in the program's first appearance in Sioux Falls.
• Denver’s season comes to close but the Pioneers will look to regroup around their sophomore duo of Smith and Jones, both of whom earned all-league honors.