GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Senior guard Rachel Howard registered her first-career double-double as she scored 17 points while pulling in a career-high 11 rebounds, but the USF women's basketball team suffered a 71-63 defeat at North Dakota on Saturday afternoon from the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
 
USF (4-4) led through three quarters, but fell victim to a North Dakota surge in the fourth quarter that saw the Fighting Hawks outscore the Dons 28-11 in the last period. USF held a 52-43 lead heading into the fourth quarter before North Dakota (2-4) went on a 17-4 run over the final six minutes to secure the comeback win.
 
Anna Seilund (11 points), Kalyn Simon (10) and Hashima Carothers (10) joined Howard in double digits on the day. In addition to her double-double, Howard added three assists and a pair of blocks to her stat line.
 
Leah Szabla matched Howard with a game-best 17 points for North Dakota.
 
USF shot 40 percent (22-55) overall on the day while holding North Dakota under 40 percent themselves through most of the contest, but was unable to contain UND's 57.1 percent output in the final frame.
 
Most of the first half was a back and forth affair as the teams jostled through seven ties in the first two quarters before USF took a four-point lead into halftime by scoring the final six points of the half on free throws by Seilund and Michaela Rakova along with a lay up and and-one conversion by Raushan Gultekin. 
 
USF wasted no time in coming out hot in the third quarter, stretching its lead to a game-high 13 as the Dons enjoyed a 12-3 run over the first four minutes punctuated by a jumper from Rakova with 6:22 to play in the quarter.
 
North Dakota quickly cut the USF lead to five on a pair of threes by Bailey Strand and a layup from Samantha Roscoe, but the Dons answered with eight unanswered points to give themselves a cushion that would eventually give them a nine-point lead at the end of the third quarter. 
 
Over the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, both teams traded buckets until Szabla's three-pointer with just under seven minutes on the clock kickstarted North Dakota's rally, which was led by Makailah Dyer, who scored 11 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter.  
 
This was the Dons' first appearance in the state of North Dakota and just the second meeting between USF and UND.
 
Howard is the second Don to record a double-double this year after Rakova's 26-point, 13-rebound night against Sacramento State in the season opener.
 
The Dons will be looking to bounce back when they return to San Francisco to host San Jose State on Dec. 6 in a game being played at historic Kezar Pavilion, the former home of the USF men's team from 1924-58. The USF women will tip at 6 p.m. as the front end of a doubleheader that will be followed by a men's showdown with San Francisco State around 8 p.m.