The University of Minnesota Duluth started out streaking, riding a pair of scoring streaks to a halftime lead before Northern State University came from behind in a dominant second half to knock off the Bulldogs 79-59 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play on Saturday night.

UMD (11-13, 9-11 NSIC) sits a game back of St. Cloud State University for the fourth seed in the NSIC North with two games to go, needing help next weekend against their divisional traveling partner and to get back to .500 to host an opening round game in the NSIC Postseason tournament. Northern State (RV, 20-6, 14-6 NSIC) sits a game ahead of Minnesota State University, Moorhead for the top seed in the North.

HIGHLIGHTS
• Senior guards Jessica Newman and Danielle Flood each netted 13 points to lead UMD. Flood added two steals, two assists, and a team-high five rebounds. Sophomore forward Kenzie Kane added eight points off the bench to lead the Bulldog reserves.
• Senior forward Rachel Krogman led all scorers with 22 points and 11 rebounds. She went 9-of-11 from the floor while adding four points on six trips to the charity stripe.

The Bulldogs got off to a hot start, opening on a 9-2 run and adding a later 10-1 run to extend out to a game-high 13-point lead at 28-15 with three minutes left in the period. Northern State would score the final four points of the half and open the second half on a 24-7 run, taking the first lead of the game at 33-32 and eventually extending it out to 44-35 before Jessica Newman hit a pair of free throws to get UMD off of a scoreless streak. Sophomore forward Kenzie Kane would snap a nearly five-minute span without a field goal for the Bulldogs, but UMD still trailed by ten going into the mid-period media timeout.

Shooting 76.9 percent (20-of-26) and making good on 19-of-24 free throws, the Wolves ran away with 60 points in the second half. After shooting 40.0 percent in the first half, UMD was held to just 8-of-27 after the break. The Bulldogs shot 35.2 percent for the game.
 

UMD returns home for the final stretch of the NSIC schedule next weekend when the Bulldogs play host to North division rivals the University of Mary and Minot State University. UMD and U-Mary start the weekend on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. in Romano Gym.