FARGO — Put whatever initials you want on the tournament, it looked like women’s postseason basketball Monday night at Scheels Center. It sounded like it, too.

North Dakota State, like it’s done so often this season, grinded out a second round win over New Mexico State in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, a 68-65 victory that will have them hosting another one.

It will be almost April and the Bison are still playing.

“Honesty, super grateful for it,” said forward Avery Koenen, who led the way with 17 points and 12 rebounds. “Any chance we get to play together and spend time together every day is something to be thankful for. It’s something not a lot of teams get to experience at this point in the season.”

The Bison will host Washington State at 7 p.m. Thursday in the round of 16 at Scheels Center.

“I’m really happy for our players that they got to experience that tonight,” said NDSU head coach Jory Collins. “Hopefully we get to experience it again. That’s what college basketball is all about. This time of the year you get to watch a game on TV and you want that.”

Koenen’s two free throws with 38 seconds left gave the Bison a 64-61 lead. With NDSU’s fans that sounded like more than the 1,016 that were there, the Aggies’ Fanta Gassama paid no attention driving to the hoop and it was 64-63 with 15 seconds left.

Abby Krzewinski followed with two free throws, but Gassama responded with a jumper just inside the 3-point arc at 5.1 seconds and it was still a one-point game. Two more free throws from Krzewinski made it a three-point game, but the Aggies, out of time outs and looking confused, opted to go the length of the floor for a layup instead of trying a 3-pointer to tie. That didn’t work either.

“They were super loud,” Koenen said of the Bison crowd. “When you hear that on defense especially, it gives you more momentum.”

NDSU will take win No. 20 into the next round, the second straight season it’s reached that goal.

“Yeah, it’s a big deal,” Collins said. “I think that’s the benchmark that a lot of teams talk about. I was nervous a few weeks ago that it was going to be hard to get there. It’s what we want to become, a normal thing and not a special team. That needs to become the norm here.”

The Bison were off for a week for spring break after the early Summit League tournament exit and then practiced for several days — and it was evident in the first quarter the speed of the game was something they weren’t used to. The Aggies brought quicker players and a full court press to the arena than the Bison practiced against.

“We hadn’t played a basketball game in a hot minute,” Krzewinski said. “I think us picking it back up in the second half showed who we are as a team.”

Still, NDSU withstood 12 first half turnovers to take a 34-31 halftime lead, getting six players to score between four and seven points. The balance continued in the second half and the Bison maintained their advantage, getting a 9-2 run to take an eight-point lead.

Like several Bison games this season, where extending leads wasn’t easy, this was no exception.

“It wasn’t our cleanest game,” Collins said.

It was 55-51 heading to the final 10 minutes. At that point, the Aggies led for only 4:35 of the game and that was in the first half. That four-point lead remained heading to the final two minutes in a dogfight that never let up.

NMSU leading scorer Molly Kaiser, who came in averaging 20.5 points, fouled out with 1:19 remaining after missing a shot that would have tied it. Abbie Draper hit 1 of 2 free throws and it was 62-59.

It was a lead they would not give up.

“Yeah, my good teams, you start when it’s warm out and you finish when it’s warm out,” Collins said. “That means you had a good year in basketball.”

NMSU 15 31 51 65

NDSU 15 34 55 68

NMSU (18-16): Gassama 9-17 4-5 22, Rozing 0-1 0-0 0, Sanchez-Oliver 1-1 2-2 4, Harding 6-14 0-1 16, Peterson 1-5 1-2 3, Kaiser 9-16 1-1 20, Yenes 0-2 0-0 0, Warren 0-1 0-0 0, Gewirtz 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 26-58 8-11.

NDSU (20-11): Draper 2-4 3-4 7, Koenen 6-12 5-6 17, Lenz 1-3 1-2 4, Schulte 5-9 1-2 11, Krzewinski 3-6 7-8 15, Stern 2-4 2-2 6, Graham 0-0 0-0 0, Frost 3-4 2-2 8, Hobson 0-0 0-0 0, Vanderpool 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: .

Total fouls: NMSU 22, NDSU 15. Fouled out: Kaiser. Technical foul: Gassama. Rebounds: NMSU 21 (Gassama 8); NDSU 31 (Koenen 12). 3-point goals: NMSU 5-14 (Rozing 0-1, Harding 4-10, Peterson 0-1, Kaiser 1-2); NDSU 3-8 (Lenz 1-3, Krzewinski 2-5). Assists: NMSU 10 (Gassama 3); NDSU 11 (Schulte 3). Turnovers: NMSU 12 (Warren 4); NDSU 21 (Koenen 5). A-1,016.

Jeff would like to dispel the notion he was around when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he is on his third decade of reporting with Forum Communications. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he’s covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995.
Jeff has covered all nine of NDSU’s Division I FCS national football titles and has written three books: “Horns Up,” “North Dakota Tough” and “Covid Kids.” He is the radio host of “The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack” April through August.