The University of Minnesota Duluth will face off with St. Cloud State University in its final game of 2013 with revenge in mind in the rematch of this top Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference rivalry.
The Bulldogs (6-3, 3-2 NSIC) went 1-1 last weekend. Friday night, U-Mary clipped UMD 68-76, but the Bulldogs bounced back with a 70-68 victory over Minot State on Saturday. Junior guard
Danielle Flood averaged 14.0 PPG on the weekend including 6-of-12 from three-point range, with a block, a steal, and four assists for good measure. Last week's NSIC Player of the Week, senior center
Hannah Rutten, had 15 points and 12 rebounds with a pair of blocks and five steals on Friday night, while freshman center
Allyson Harris had a double-double of her own (10 points, 12 rebounds) in her first career start on Saturday night while adding two blocks and a steal of her own.
Junior guard
Jessica Newman scored the go-ahead basket not once but twice in the closing minute of Saturday's game with Minot State, first drilling a three-point to put UMD up 68-66 and then, after the Beavers tied the score, dropping in a ten-foot jumper with seven-tenths of a second on the clock to give the Bulldogs the win. Newman finished with a season-high 11 points on Friday night and then improved upon that with 13 on Saturday. She added seven assists on the weekend and shot 52.9 percent, including four of nine from beyond the arch.
The Bulldogs shot 45.4 percent on the weekend and had 14 three-point scores, out-rebounding opponents 62-51 including 49-18 on the defensive end.
About the Huskies
St. Cloud State (8-1, 4-1 NSIC) enters the weekend on a three-game winning streak. The Huskies knocked off UMD 81-73 in St. Cloud earlier this season on
Nov. 30. St. Cloud State (5-0, 1-0 NSIC) took a 19-12 lead, the largest of the first half, nine minutes into the frame.UMD battled back into it late, trailing by just three in the final minute, but late free throws let the Huskies pull away. A double-double (17 points, 11 rebounds) by SCSU's Jessica Benson that put the game away. Benson is second in the league behind UMD's Rutten in rebounding with 10.9 boards per game. Senior guard Sam Price averages 15.9 points per game for the Huskies.
UMD is 25-33 all-time against SCSU. The Bulldogs and Huskies will tip-off in the afternoon matinee at 2:00 p.m. Saturday.
