The UMD women's basketball team opened its season by defeating Missouri Western State 79-65 on Saturday in St Louis as part of the D2CCA Tip Off Classic. With the win, the Bulldogs sit at a perfect 1-0 record.

It didn't take long into the young season for the Bulldogs to face adversity. The first 3:15 of the contest belonged to Missouri Western, the Griffons gradually developing a 9-0 lead in this time.

Often, literal answers to questions aren't all that pleasant to receive. For example, nobody in an early 9-0 hole like this would enjoy being told to simply score nine points themselves. Except maybe the Bulldogs, because that's exactly what they did. They did it in a little less time, too, about 2:11. As might be expected, this drew a timeout from Missouri Western. Out of the break, the teams traded blows until the end of the quarter,  leaving the score at 17-13 UMD. Brooke Olson and Maesyn Thiesen each had four points throughout the Bulldogs' comeback bid to share the title of the team's leading scorer. As a team, the Bulldogs shot at 58.3% and entered the second quarter riding on a 17-4 run. On the other end, Missouri Western's Connie Clarke led all scorers with seven. The Griffons shot 41.7% from the field. 

In the second quarter, both teams decided to skip the nine-point swing exchange in favor of keeping things close throughout the duration of the frame. The largest lead either team saw in the second frame was a five point advantage for UMD with 8:57 left in the half. The Griffons storming back in less than a minute to make the score 20-19 set a more fitting tone. At the halfway point of the quarter, UMD fell down 22-24 on a Brionna Budgetts three pointer, and the Bulldogs struggled to retake the lead. They certainly didn't struggle to compete, though, as UMD was down just one at a score of 29-28 heading into halftime. Ella Gilbertson had led the way offensively for the Bulldogs in this quarter with four points. On the other end, Budgetts had a quarter-high five points on 2-2 shooting. 

Across the entire half, Madelyn Granica and Olson had tied for the team lead in points with six. Granica's came off of making each of the two threes she'd attempted, one in each frame. Those Granica threes had been the only ones to find the net for the Bulldogs up until this point in the game. Meanwhile, Missouri Western was 4-9 from three, shooting the long ball at 44.4%. Budgetts was 2-2 from beyond the arc and 3-3 overall. The Griffons' highest scorer was Connie Clarke, the only double-digit scorer to this point. She was 5-6 from the field. 


In the third quarter, the entire narrative of the game got flipped on its head. The Bulldogs came out red-hot offensively. By the halfway mark of the third frame, UMD was suddenly up 41-32. Much of this was the Olson effect: the graduate student forward scored 10 of the points in this 13-3 run herself, including two straight three-pointers. Taya Hakamaki dished the ball out to Olson on both of those shots and also tallied a three-ball for herself in this run. Missouri Western  kept poking around, finding ways to keep the lead down to double-digits. Sitting at a score of 48-40 with just two minutes to go in the quarter, the Bulldogs dealt one of their biggest blows yet: an 8-3 run down the stretch to end the third frame up 56-43. Threes from Hakamaki and Thiesen paired with a few free-throws by Lexi Karge were enough to get the job done. 

All things considered, the Bulldogs had a quarter to remember. The team shot 60% from the field and a whopping 66.7% from three. Of the team's 28 points in the frame, Olson had 10 on 4-6 shooting, including going 2-4 from beyond the arc. All the while, Missouri Western was struggling to knock down shots like they had before. The Griffons shot just 29.4% from the field, 28.6% from three. Their leading scorer in the quarter in Cleao Murray had six points but was a -13.

The cumulative stats from the fourth quarter show you that it was a tightly contested frame. The Bulldogs only outscored the Griffons 23-22. While the Bulldogs kept clicking from the field, shooting 10-15 (66.7%), the Griffons rediscovered their three-point shooting touch and went 3-5 from deep (60%). Both of the team's leading scorers in the quarter had seven points, Kaylee Nelson for UMD (on 3-3 shooting) and Jordan Cunningham for the Griffons. Still, the Bulldogs ended up winning by 14. Their dominant performance in the third frame was enough to carry them to victory through a competitive final act. 

By the end of the game, Brooke Olson stood as the leading scorer across both teams with 22 points. The Bulldogs shot 31-60 from the field (51.7%), 9-17 from deep (52.9%) and 8-9 from the free-throw line (88.9%). Maesyn Thiesen had a team-high five assists. Defensively, Taya Hakamaki had a team-best three steals to pair with 12 points. Ella Gilbertson led the way in rebounds with six. Madelyn Granica had a Bulldog-best two blocks.

For Missouri Western State, Connie Clarke ended the night with a team-high 14 points on an impressive shooting split of 6-8 (75%). The Griffons shot 42.9% both from the field (24-56) and from three (9-21). They were 8-14 from the charity stripe (57.1%). Johnni Gonzalez led the team with five assists. On defense, Mary Fultz, Clarke and Murray all had two steals. Cunningham had eight rebounds. Trinity Knapp had each of the team's three blocks. 

The Bulldogs will close out their slate of the D2CCA Tip Off Classic with a game against Missouri Southern on Sunday, November 5 at 3:30 p.m.