The UND women’s basketball team saw another strong performance from its leaders Friday.

Pulling off another comeback, senior Siri Burck dropped 18 points against Saint Francis Brooklyn. Burck hit all seven of her shots on the floor to send UND to a 70-63 win.

The victory marked UND’s first non-hockey win in a national tournament in the Division I era.

UND coach Travis Brewster was impressed with Buck’s performance.

“Siri is a fifth year senior and she can play all five positions for us,” Brewster said. “Why not knock down some shots for us?”

The teams went into half with UND leading 35-32. St. Francis started with an offensive explosion, jumping to a 17-point lead not even 10 minutes into the game.

UND quickly heated up, scoring 32 points in the final 12 minutes of the first half. UND took the lead with five minutes left in the first half, off a layup by Ellen Kiser — two of her six points.

In the second half, UND kept up its pace, never relinquishing the lead and adding 35 points to finish the game ahead, 70 to 63 in a historic finish.

“It’s a big first,” Brewster said. “It’s a big deal. Credit our ladies.”

In its second straight game where it had to overcome a major deficit, UND showed resiliency in a team effort. Junior Mia Loyd had another strong performance, bagging her 10th double-double.

Burck’s 18 points were matched by sophomore Makaliah Dyer. UND shot 60 percent from the three-point range and just over 50 percent from the field.

While Emily Evers’ streak of scoring in 93 straight games ended, her defense was noted, getting six rebounds and two blocks.

The defense was an intricate part of the win, outperforming St. Francis in every aspect — defensive rebounds, points off turnovers and overall points allowed.

UND added another win Saturday night defeating host team Townson 54-52. For the second night in a row, UND’s defense dominated in the paint, scoring 28 points while only allowing Townson to score 16.

Evers had another impressive night, scoring nineteen points.  Dyer added 11 points.

Neither team ever had a lead of more than six points at any time.

UND’s next two games are both away, as the team will play Omaha on Wednesday and Western Illinois on Saturday. North Dakota then returns for a home game against Dickinson State on Dec. 2.

Kyle Beauchamp is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].