by Zachary Knecht
Featured Image: Photo by Eric Hylden of Grand Forks Herald
It wasn’t pretty for the Wildcats in their matchup against the North Dakota Fighting Hawks, as they lost the contest 76-54. In an away game that they were hoping to set the tone moving forward, WSU trailed early and couldn’t climb their way back.
A lot went wrong for Weber State in this one, and it all started with their poor performance in the first quarter. The Wildcats were outscored 17-6 in the first period of play, which set the tone for the rest of the game. North Dakota’s star guard Kacie Borowicz was at the helm of the offensive attack for the Fighting Hawks with a 19-point, four assists, three rebound stat line. Forward Juliet Gordan and guard Claire Orth also helped set the tone with 15- and 12-point games, respectively.
Weber State’s two star forwards, Daryn Hickok and Jadyn Matthews were the two bright spots in the blowout loss. The two combined for 31 points and shot 10-11 from the free-throw line. They were essentially the entire offense for the Wildcats as guard Laura Taylor put up the only other six points from the starters. The 11 rebounds from Matthews also helped as WSU outperformed North Dakota in the rebounding category 36-33.
Unfortunately for Weber State, rebounding was seemingly the only thing they did better than their opponent in this game, and it wasn’t close. The Wildcats shot barely 30% from the field and a measly 25% from beyond the arch. They also were utterly dominated in steals, losing the ball 11 times to one.
The most concerning thing of all was the turnovers for the Wildcats. WSU turned the ball over a baffling 26 times compared to the 13 of their opponents. If this team has any hopes of turning their season around, especially in these tough away games, they can’t turn the ball over the way they did. There aren’t many games a team will win in Division I basketball if they turn the ball over double the number of their opponents.
It will be back to the drawing board for Weber State as they prepare to face the offensive juggernaut that is the Utah Tech Trailblazers in a game they won’t afford to continue making so many fatal mistakes.
The Hive Sports 
Leave a Reply