ABERDEEN, S.D. - The Northern State women's basketball team (2-1) led top-ranked North Dakota (3-0) with as little as 2:19 left in the game.  A three-pointer and a series of free throws put North Dakota up and gave them a 66-61 win.  Jaclyn Arns and Noelle Hall each paced the Wolves with 21 points.

The Wolves never trailed the top-ranked North Dakota squad, which entered the game with a +20.0 scoring margin, by more than nine points throughout the meeting.  Northern finished ahead in shooting percentage (39.3%-35.0%) and field goals made (22-21), but an off night at the charity stripe spelled disaster for the home team.  The Wolves hit just over 55 percent of their shots from the line (10-of-18).  Another factor in North Dakota's win was apparent in the rebounding column; UND won the fight on the boards 43-34 and had 16 offensive rebounds.

Northern trailed 24-30 at the half and was down 36-44 at the 15:34 mark of the second period before they managed to hold UND scoreless for three minutes and narrow the gap to just a single point, 43-44.  The Wolves began to connect on three-point shots and treys from Noelle Hall, Jaclyn Arns, and a final hit from Megan Kusler made the crowd erupt as the Wolves took their first lead of the game, 51-49 with 9:36 to play.

North Dakota answered with seven straight points from their commanding center, Ashley Langen, to take back a slim lead.  Both teams tightened up their defenses and the game was a stalemate until Ryanne Brockhaus, Hall and Arns combined to get the lead back, 61-60 with 2:19 left on the clock.  North Dakota rebounds, especially on the offensive end, gave the visitors a late push and UND held Northern without a score for the rest of the game.  A three-pointer and a set of free throws were the difference in the game as UND won 66-61.

Continuing to shine on offense for the Wolves were seniors Jaclyn Arns and Noelle Hall.  Arns upped her career high scoring mark with 21 points against North Dakota.  She shot 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and also dished out five assists and nabbed five rebounds.  Hall matched Arns with 21 points and five rebounds.  Topping the Wolves in rebounds were Amanda Glenz and Megan Kusler with six each.

Four North Dakota players had double figure scoring performances.  Ashley Langen and Karla Beck had 16 points each, followed by Danye Guinn with 11 and Alys Seay with ten.  Kierah Kimbrough led the squad with nine of their 43 rebounds.  Langen came in second with seven boards.  Guinn added five assists to her stats line.

The North Dakota win does to Northern what the Wolves made happen in Grand Forks last season, a home opener loss.  Northern heads to Marshall, Minn. this weekend for the SMSU Invite, where they will play Maville State at 6:00 p.m. on Friday and Dakota State at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.  Both games will be webcast on www.northernsun.tv and a live radio feed will be broadcast locally.