RENO, Nev. – Heaven Hamling netted a career-high 39 points as the North Dakota State women’s basketball team held off Nevada, 73-68, at the Nugget Classic on Sunday afternoon at Lawlor Events Center.
Hamling posted a career-high 39 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the field and 7-of-12 shooting from three. She also went 10-of-10 from the free throw line and added six rebounds, three steals and one assist to her stat line. Her 39 points rank as the third-most all-time in a single-game at NDSU (6-0) and marked her second career 30-point performance. Hamling also surpassed the 1,000 career points mark with 1,013, which includes one season at Stephen F. Austin State.
Elle Evans reached double figures in scoring for the Bison for the third straight game with 10 points to go along with four rebounds and two assists. Abby Schulte also added a career-high six assists with six rebounds and two points.
As a team, NDSU shot 40.0 percent (22-55) from the field and connected on a season-high 12 three-pointers on 29 attempts. The Bison also shot 81.0 percent (17-21) from the free throw line with Hamling (10-10) and Evans (4-4) not missing from the stripe.
The Bison, who never trailed in the contest, got off to fast start opening up a double-digit lead, 18-8, after Hamling knocked down a triple with 39 seconds to play in the first quarter. NDSU then built its largest lead of the game, 24-10, following a jumper from Hamling with 7:57 to play in the half. The Wolf Pack (2-3) pushed back trimming the Bison lead down to 30-27 at the intermission.
NDSU started the third quarter putting together five straight points following a triple from Abby Graham and two free throws from Hamling to make the score 40-33 by the 4:04 mark. The Wolf Pack made one final surge in the fourth quarter cutting the deficit down to two, 59-57, following a jumper from Alyssa Jimenez. The Bison responded with an 8-0 run to stretch their lead back into double figures, 67-57, after Evans sank two free throws. NDSU went on to hold off Nevada the rest of the way to earn the 73-68 win.
Following the contest, Hamling and Evans were both named to the Nugget Classic All-Tournament Team.
NDSU will be back in action at Eastern Michigan on Thursday. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m. CT
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