After productive nonconference season, UND looks forward to Summit League play
Dec. 19—GRAND FORKS — For a number of years, South Dakota State and South Dakota have dominated the title discussion in the days before the opening of the Summit League women's basketball season.
That's true again this season as league play begins Monday night.
And it's highly likely that South Dakota State will be in the title discussion at the end of the season as well.
South Dakota may be in the conversation, too.
But North Dakota quietly has joined the periphery of that discussion as well after the Hawks posted a 7-3 nonconference season. No Summit team has won more than seven games heading into league play.
UND opens Summit play Monday, hosting St. Thomas.
UND's nonconferene season, said coach Mallory Bernhard, put the Hawks in good position heading into the Summit.
"We definitely didn't give ourselves an easy (nonconference) schedule," said the UND coach. "We played teams in the top half of their conferences. Our team responded to that in a good way."
St. Thomas is in its second Summit season and the Tommies have produced a 5-5 record heading into its opener at UND.
"There is always some extra motivation when league play begins because you want to get started on the right foot," said Bernhard. "St. Thomas is having a great year. They're a team that was picked way lower (ninth) than it should have been. We just need to stay locked in."
St. Thomas also posted the best defense in the Summit during nonconference play. The Tommies are allowing 57.3 points per game. UND's defense ranked second, allowing 63 points.
UND's offense has been solid as well. The Hawks are scoring 72.4 points per game, which ranks second in the league.
UND is led by Kacie Borowicz, who is averaging 21.5 points. She also surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career during the Hawks' win over Mayville State last week. Claire Orth is averaging 9.5 points and Juliet Gordon 8.5 points.
While UND has made some noise in the Summit, South Dakota State will be the team to beat. The Jacks' 7-5 nonconference record is misleading.
SDSU has played the most challenging schedule by far of any Summit team.
The Jacks have played Creighton, Lehigh, Mississippi State, UCLA, Rutgers, Louisville, Washington State, Montana State, Northern Iowa, Kansas State, UT Martin and No.1 South Carolina as they prepare for Monday's league opener against Oral Roberts.
"I feel we've given ourselves a lot of good looks as to what we're going to see in conference play," said Bernhard. "At the end of the day, that's what we were trying to do throughout our nonconference play."
After the St. Thomas opener, UND will host Western Illinois on Wednesday.
