The home crowd got to witness one of the better defensive strangleholds in the University of Minnesota Duluth's season opener. The Bulldogs held the University of Sioux Falls to just 36 points on the night and 21.3 percent from the field. The stifling UMD defense coaxed the Cougars to single-digits in three quarters as the Bulldogs seized the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference contest 51-36 in front of 518 fans at Romano Gymnasium. Sioux Falls never shot higher than 42 percent in any quarter as it only connected on 17 of its 53 attempts.

The 36 points allowed was the fewest since last season when Upper Iowa University tallied only 34 points in Fayette, Iowa on Jan. 13, 2018. Its the eighth time since the turn of the century that the Bulldogs held a team into the 30's.

UMD moved to 4-2 and 3-1 in the NSIC while the Cougars dropped to 7-2 and 3-1 in the NSIC. With tonight's win, the Bulldogs evened up the all-time series to 4-4 over Sioux Falls.

The home opener was long awaited as UMD had to wait more than a month to host its first home game of the season. The Bulldogs grabbed the lead late in the second quarter off a three-point play by freshman forward Brooke Olson to take a 18-16 lead. It was a late UMD would never let go. The Cougars had trouble all night finding any offensive consistency. They turned the ball over 18 times and the Bulldogs kept adding to their lead the longer the game went. UMD topped the advantage to 15 on a jumper by junior forward Katie Stark. Stark had a game-high 13 points to go along with eight rebounds, three steals and a pair of blocks. Her aforementioned bucket put UMD ahead 46-31 with 5:46 remaining. 

Sioux Falls played right into the strength of the Bulldog defense with 32 three-point attempts. The Cougars made only six outside shots for 18.8 percent from beyond the arc. Coming into tonight, UMD was allowing teams to shoot a mere 24.3 from three, which was 15th-best in the nation. While Sioux Falls was settling for jump shots, the Bulldogs battled inside for 18 points in the paint and went 15-for-22 at the free throw line. The Cougars went 4-for-5 at the charity stripe. 

Kaely Hummel was the lone Sioux Falls player to reach double figures. She had 11 points on a 4-for-16 shooting effort.

Sophomore forward Sarah Grow was one point shy of her second double-double of the season. The native of Circle Pines, Minn., registered nine points and pulled down a season high 12 rebounds, which was one shy of hitting her career mark. Grow also had three of the team's five blocked shots. Olson was the other Bulldog beside Stark to have at least 10 points as Olson added 10 points.

The Bulldogs are back in action tomorrow afternoon against Southwest Minnesota State University. First tip is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.


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