Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
North Dakota
Wildcats battle back, but fall short to UND
1/11/2014 11:25:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The Weber State women's basketball team (4-9, 0-4) fought back from a big first half deficit but fell short to the Big Sky's first-place team, North Dakota, 83-72.
North Dakota (10-4, 5-0) led by as many as 16 points late in the first half before the Wildcats made a run to start the second half and climb as close as four points.
North Dakota climbed out to that lead thanks to a 20-2 run over an eight-minute stretch in the middle of the first half.
That would be as close as the Wildcats would get, however. North Dakota pulled away in a second half featuring 24 Wildcat fouls and 32 UND free throws in the half. North Dakota shot 44 free throws total in the game, making 32 of them while the Cats went 11-for-22 from the stripe.
Sophomore guard Desiree Ramos led the Wildcats with 21 points while sophomore center Jalen Carpenter added 14 but fouled out late. Junior center Zakkiyah Shahid-Martin also fouled out. She fouled out with 6:43 left and five points.
Three other Wildcats finished with four fouls and another finished with three. Weber State recorded a total of 33 fouls in the game to 21 North Dakota fouls.
Senior forward Amanda Hughes led the Cats with nine rebounds, but Weber State was outrebounded 53-35.
The game was a very physical one, with 70 total points scored in the paint. North Dakota won the battle down low, scoring 38 points in the paint to the Cats' 32.
Weber State won the turnover battle, only turning it over 16 times to UND's 22. The Wildcats also had 10 steals.
North Dakota shot 45 percent while the Wildcats shot 39 percent. Neither team shot well from three-point range with Weber State going 3-for-17 from behind the arc and UND going 1-for-11.
The Wildcats hit the road for four straight games, starting on Thursday with a 7 p.m. game at Southern Utah.
