5th year Kacie Borowicz added her name to the UND women’s basketball record books Thursday, Jan. 11, netting her first career triple-double and the third in UND women’s basketball history.
“It’s a pretty rare thing in basketball,” head coach Mallory Bernhard said. “We know Kacie is a pretty special player and see her do special things all the time, so nothing should really surprise us or shock us at this point; but what an awesome accomplishment, a triple-double, and she knew she needed some rebounds, and you can see that that fight to go get a couple and I love that.”
Borowicz did not know she was putting up triple-double numbers until her coaches alerted her and sat on the bench later in the game before the UND coaching staff let her know how close she was and subbed her back in.
“I didn’t really know until obviously the end, very grateful that my coaches let me go back in and that they were on top of that for me,” Borowicz said. “It’s not something you are thinking of the whole time, but when you know you’re that close, it was cool to get; that’s my first one.”
The last UND women’s basketball player to register a triple-double was the late Katie Richards, who passed away in November 2023. It was also the first twenty-point triple-double in UND women’s basketball history.
Borowicz’s triple-double was part of UND’s dominant win over the University of Nebraska Omaha. UND defeated their Summit League opponent with a score of 100-75 last Thursday at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
“This was one of our first games where we’ve kind of been in control the whole time,” Borowicz said. “They had runs, but I think we played our pace. Just dictated the game, and I think that was the first time we did that.”
While Borowicz’s performance may have been the headliner, it was a big night for the entire team. Sophomore Kiyah Hurst led the team in points and registered a double-double herself. Hurst started the first quarter by scoring five points for UND before the Mavericks could even register one.
“She got us rolling early,” Bernhard said. “Hit a three couple easy buckets inside, and so that that really got us rolling and we just shot incredibly well.”
Including Hurst and Borowicz, UND had four players put up double-digit points, and they had 11 players on the score sheet in the triple-digit victory.
“Just really good for our confidence that a lot of people scored tonight,” Borowicz said. “We’ve been on a better note the last two games, and we kind of realized that one of them was a loss. I think we’re just making a lot of steps forward. And then to get back to conference, play a night, and pull off a win like that meant a lot for our team.”
After such a complete performance, the question remains as to how the UND women’s basketball team will carry the lessons and positive momentum forward.
Borowicz emphasized the importance of maintaining health during the season to keep up the positive pace, giving her perspective as to what players can do at an individual level.
Bernhard said on media day at the beginning of the season that she expected the young roster to change and grow frequently throughout the season. She says the key to continued success is to keep the hard work going into practice.
“We just got to keep practicing it, and… honestly, it’s kind of been moving here a little bit in the right direction, which is awesome,” Bernhard said. “I love the way we’re playing as a team right now. Of course, we want to clean up some of the turnovers, but to have 22 assists tonight I think was huge.”
Maeve Hushman is a Dakota Student Sports Reporter. She can be reached at [email protected].
