Hodgson, Birkel Combine For 43 as North Dakota State Downs Oral Roberts 76-57

Hodgson, Birkel Combine For 43 as North Dakota State Downs Oral Roberts 76-57

FARGO, N.D.--Inger Hodgson netted a career-high 22 points and Katie Birkel struck for a season best 21 as North Dakota State University defeated Oral Roberts University 76-57 in a Summit League women's basketball game played Monday, Dec. 8, before 703 spectators in the Bison Sports Arena.

North Dakota State (2-0 Summit, 4-3) is scheduled to play at the University of Wyoming (5-3) in the Casper Shootout at 2 p.m. (Central) on Saturday, Dec. 13. The Bison play at the University of Denver (2-4) at 8 p.m. (Central) on Monday, Dec. 15. Wyoming is off until Saturday, while Denver hosts Air Force on Wednesday and Florida Atlantic on Saturday.

The Bison used a 18-3 run over an eight-minute span in the first half to break open a close game.

Oral Roberts (0-2 Summit, 5-4) closed to within 11-9 with 12:50 left as Mariana Camargo found Jordan Pyle inside for a layup. The Golden Eagles received only a Janae Voelker three-pointer over the next eight minutes. Voelker led ORU with 18 points, while Amy Pryor had 13 and Georgia Jones added 11.

North Dakota State scored in a variety of ways including back-to-back steals and layups from Birkel, a 5-8 freshman from Lincoln, Neb., who struck for eight points during that run. NDSU built the lead to 29-12 on a Hodgson steal and layup. The advantage grew to 38-20 at halftime.

The Bison took advantage of 20 ORU turnovers and turned the miscues into 34 points. To compound matters, the Golden Eagles shot only 29.6 percent in the first half and 36.2 percent overall. Oral Roberts made 10 of 27 from the three-point line for 37 percent.

NDSU held a 37-27 edge on the boards led by Jerri Penley's game-high eight rebounds. Penley made her first 14 free throw attempts this season before missing to end a streak of 19 in a row dating back to last February.

North Dakota State made 52.8 percent from the field overall and was sparked by Hodgson and Birkel, who combined to connect on 17 of 27 shots from the field. Abby Plucker scored 12 points to complete a Bison trio in double-figures. Birkel also recorded six assists.

Hodgson, a 5-9 junior from Barneveld, Wis., hit 16 of 20 attempts from the field during the weekend including 9 of 13 from the three-point stripe. Hodgson and Birkel both came up with three steals.