Women's Basketball

Bison advance to title game behind Koenen's 31-point effort

The Basics
Score: No. 1 North Dakota State 63, No. 5 St. Thomas 51
Records: North Dakota State (28-3, 15-1 SL), St. Thomas (16-16, 8-8 SL)
Location: Denny Sanford PREMIER Center - Sioux Falls, S.D.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 1 seed North Dakota State rode the hot hand of Avery Koenen and a pair of 10-0 runs to top No. 5 St. Thomas 63-51 in the semifinals of the Summit League Women’s Basketball Championship at the Denny Sanford Premier Center. Koenen scored a career-high 31 points to go along with eight rebounds, besting her previous career high of 30 points -- a feat she accomplished twice during her Summit League Player of the Year campaign.

Koenen and takeaways fueled both of those pivotal 10-0 runs as the Bison advanced to their second title game in the past three tournaments.

St. Thomas jumped out to a 15-8 advantage on strong play by forward Alyssa Sand and guard Jada Hood as those two combined for all of the Tommies' points in the opening stanza. NDSU scored the next 10 points to regain the lead, holding the Tommies scoreless for more than 7:30 minutes.

The Tommies would not go away and NDSU was only able to take a slim 24-22 lead at the break after Koenen tallied half of those points.

It was the second 10-0 run by the Bison that put the game away and helped NDSU post its second double-digit victory of the tournament. Eight of those points came at the start of the fourth quarter as a pull-up jumper from Molly Lenz capped the spurt just over a minute into the final period.

Koenen had 10 of her career-high in the fourth quarter as NDSU shot 56 percent from the field after halftime.

Hood paced St. Thomas with 17 points, while Sand finished with 15 to go along with seven rebounds.

NDSU will play either No. 2 seed South Dakota State or No. 3 seed South Dakota in the women’s championship game at 3 p.m. Sunday. The Bison are seeking their first Summit tournament title. Their only previous appearance in the championship game was in 2024.

Turning Point
The Bison scored 10 points in a row spanning the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth to establish the first double-digit led by either team in the game. Koenen scored eight of those points – including six in a matter of three seconds via back-to-back and-1 plays.

Inside the Box Score 
  • Koenen was the only NDSU player to score in double figures and her 31 points also set a NDSU single-game scoring record in the tournament.
  • St. Thomas outscored the Bison 18-9 from the 3-point line.
  • NDSU went 14-of-16 from the free-throw line, while the Tommies made only 3-of-5 attempts.
News & Notes
  • St. Thomas was seeking its first bid into the Summit tournament championship game. This was the Tommies’ first semifinal appearance.
  • This was the final game in the career of St. Thomas head coach Ruth Sinn. She announced her retirement earlier this season and finished with 423 wins over 21 seasons in that role.
  • Sophomore guard Jocelyn Schiller – a second-team, all-conference selection – returned to the starting lineup for NDSU after missing the tournament opener due to injury.
  • With the win, NDSU advanced to the title game for the second time in program history -- the Bison fell to South Dakota State in 2024 finale.
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