The Northwestern women’s basketball team has started the season 3-0 after securing a pair of wins in North Dakota last weekend.
Saturday the Raiders dominated Valley City State to remain unbeaten. In their 83-54 victory, 10 different Raiders scored, and four were in double figures.
Senior Alli Engebretson was the leading scorer in the game. She finished with 22 points, one shy of her career-high, and hit six three-pointers. Senior Sam Kleinsasser recorded her second double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Junior Karen Hutson scored 13 points, and sophomore Katy Kuiper put in a career-high 10 points off the bench. The women shot 48 percent for the game and 50 percent from three. The defense was stifling. NW collected 14 steals on the game and held VCSU to only 30 percent shooting on the day.
“You can see a lot of people have gotten better coming into the season,” Kleinsasser said. “We are going to continue to keep getting better as the season goes on.”
On Friday the women played against No. 10 ranked Jamestown College in their toughest game so far in the season.
Hutson led the way with a career-high 27 points as the Raiders beat their opponent 96-86.
The game was physical between both teams, and a total of 59 fouls were called.This led to 82 free-throw attempts between the two teams. Kleinsasser finished the game with her first double-double of the year by tallying 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Engebretson finished with 22 points and eight rebounds, and sophomore Cassidy Breon scored 13 points off the bench. The Raider women forced Jamestown into 20 turnovers and held the advantage on the boards with 44 total rebounds.
“It’s great to see everyone accepting the roles that are given to them and to see them thrive in those new roles,” said head coach Chris Yaw. “This year is about people taking more responsibility on this team and building each other up.”
NW was scheduled to play against Dakota State on Tuesday, but the game was postponed due to the weather.
“It sucks that we can’t play,” Engebretson said. “We’ll just take things one day at a time.”
