UMD Athletics

The University of Minnesota Duluth Women's basketball team topped the University of Minnesota Crookston on Friday evening 83-59. The Bulldogs clinched a standalone first place overall in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference with the win, their 12th overall in school history and first since 2002-03. UMD improves to 22-5 on the season and 19-2 in the NSIC while UMC falls to 4-21 on the year and 3-18 in the NSIC.
 
The Bulldogs finished the evening shooting 55.6% (35-63) from the floor, grabbing 34 rebounds with six blocks, eight steals and 19 assists. The Golden Eagles finished shooting 34.5% (20-58) from the floor, grabbing 35 rebounds with one block, two steals and eight assists.
 
The Bulldogs would win the opening tipoff before junior guard Ann Simonet nailed a deep 3-pointer with 8:46 left in the quarter. Sophomore forward Brooke Olson scored an in tight jumper to follow. Olson would score the next basket for two to take a 7-0 lead with the Golden Eagles taking the first timeout with 6:41 remaining. UMC would finally score with 5:30 remaining with a shot beyond the arc, but junior forward Sarah Grow would respond with a layup followed by a two from Simonet. UMD would keep their foot on the gas, taking a 20-14 lead into the second. UMC would open scoring in the second in the second with a quick two followed by a layup from Simonet. The Bulldogs would take a 30-20 lead into a media timeout with 4:47 remaining. The Golden Eagles would score first off of a free throw to cut the lead to nine. Olson would respond less than a minute later followed by another layup to extend UMD's lead to 13 before UMC scored a quick layup to follow. The Bulldogs would hammer on for the remainder of the quarter, grabbing a 18 point lead before half, 41-23.
 
The Golden Eagles would open scoring in the third quarter with a quick three, Olson following with a short two but UMC would respond with a two again. UMD followed with a two to counter act their basket. After continuing their offense, the Bulldogs would take a 55-33 lead into a media timeout. After UMC scored out of the timeout, Grow would score a layup to keep the 22 point lead. The teams would go back and forth with UMD holding steady on a lead, taking a 22 point 63-41 lead into the fourth. UMC would open scoring again with two quick made free throws. The Golden Eagles would cut the lead to 18 before the Bulldogs found a quick four points to regain the 22 point lead, holding steady into the media timeout with 4:37 remaining up 75-55. The Bulldogs would score three  straight baskets for six points before the Golden Eagles scored a layup. UMD kept the offense going, finishing out the game 83-59.
 
Olson finished the game with 24 points, grabbing three rebounds with a steal and going 11-15 from the floor, dishing three assists and hitting two 3-pointers. Grow finished with 14 points on the evening, grabbing seven rebounds with four blocks, a steal and shooting 7-14 from the floor. Simonet finished with 13 points, grabbing four rebounds with four assists and going 5-8 from the floor. Junior guard Payton Kahl dropped 13 as well, going 4-5 from the flor grabbing two rebounds and one assist. Sophomre guard Maesyn Thiesen scored two if the effort, grabbing three rebounds and six assists on the night.
 
The Bulldogs will close out the regular season portion of their schedule tomorrow when they take on Bemidji State University at 3:30 PM.