Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
North Dakota
Wildcats fall to first-place North Dakota
2/7/2014 4:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Weber State women's basketball began its second half of the Big Sky season with a 13-point loss at North Dakota on Thursday night. The Cats lost 68-55 to first-place UND.
Sophomore guard Regina Okoye led the Wildcats with 16 points but fouled out late. Senior forward Amanda Hughes added ten points of her own.
North Dakota holds a large advantage inside in most games they play. Thursday was no different. UND outscored the Cats in the paint, 26-16, and outrebounded Weber State 33-29.
The game was somewhat of a defensive slugfest, with the Wildcats forcing 29 UND turnovers. However, the Cats turned the ball over 27 times on the night. That evened things out a bit as UND outscored Weber State, 26-25, off of turnovers.
The Wildcats shot only 39.2 percent in the game while UND shot 47.6 percent from the field. North Dakota got to the line 11 more times than the Wildcats did, going 24-30 from the stripe. Meanwhile, the Wildcats made only half as many free throws as UND, going 12-19 from the line.
North Dakota got 17 points from its leading scorer, Madi Buck, but the Cats did a good job holding UND's second-leading scorer, Mia Lloyd, to just three points. Lloyd was just 1-6 from the floor.
The Wildcats benefitted from 15 second chance points to UND's three, but North Dakota's bench outscored Weber State's, 21-8.
Coming off a double-double against Sacramento State, sophomore forward Kalie Matthews added eight points to the Wildcat total.
The Cats will play at Northern Colorado on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. before returning home for four home games in a row.
