The UMD women's basketball team took their road contest against Minot 77-54 on Friday night on the back of a stout effort on both sides of the ball. With the win, the Bulldogs improve to 7-2 on the year and stay undefeated in NSIC play at 4-0. 

It was an all-out barrage from the Bulldogs in the first quarter. UMD scored the game's first four baskets en route to a 9-0 advantage after just 2:22 had come off of the clock. Madelyn Granica scored five of these points herself and also had a rebound to her name during this stretch. Taytum Rhoades already had two assists and a steal that eventually led to a bucket on the other end (that she'd get the assist for). Minot would start to generate some offense of its own at this point, keeping pace with the Bulldogs the rest of the quarter, but the early hole proved too much for them to dig all the way out of. The Beavers never got closer than six points of evening things up at a score of 10-4 UMD. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs developed a lead as large as 13 at 21-8 with just 2:35 remaining in the frame. UMD would eventually head into the second quarter up double figures at 23-11. The Bulldogs shot 64.3% from the field in the frame, going 9-14. 

The second quarter was a much tighter affair. In fact, the Beavers closed the frame having outscored UMD 22-21. Still, the Bulldogs' fast start in the first was enough to keep them in the driver's seat heading into half. The Bulldogs' lead never dipped below double-digits the entire frame and climbed to as high as 17 on a few occasions, last at a score of 44-27 with just 1:24 remaining in the half. Minot would show signs of life late in the quarter, though, scoring six unanswered points to trim UMD's lead down to 11 heading into the break. 

It had been scoring by-committee for the Bulldogs all throughout the half. Three different players had six or more points through two quarters. Granica had six on 2-3 shooting from the field. Brooke Olson closed with eight points on 4-6 shooting. It was Taya Hakamaki, still fresh on the heels of a career-best week, who led the offensive charge. She had nine points on a near-automatic 3-5 shooting from beyond the arc. She did all of that in just the second quarter. Several Bulldogs had two assists through two frames, including Rhoades, who'd paired hers with two steals. 

The story would stay the same through the majority of the third quarter, Minot keeping close but not quite being able to slim their deficit down to a single figure. With 2:19 remaining in the frame, UMD's lead was 12 at a score of 57-45. That's when the Bulldogs decided they wanted a bit more of a cushion- UMD would go on a 7-0 run in under two minutes to balloon their lead up to a game-high 19 (to that point) at 64-45. Minot would secure the last two points of the frame off of a pair of free-throws, but that still left the Bulldogs with a 64-47 advantage going into the fourth. UMD accomplished this off of exactly 50% shooting from the field in the quarter, going 8-16. Meanwhile, on the defensive end, the Bulldogs had held the Beavers to just 4-14 shooting through the frame (28.6%). 

The final quarter saw the Bulldogs humming along on both sides of the court simultaneously. UMD scored an efficient 13 points on 5-8 shooting. There was no expense spared on defense, as the Bulldogs again held Minot to minimal scoring through 10 minutes. The Beavers shot just 2-10 from the field this time around en route to just seven points in the quarter. UMD was able to ride this formula to a 77-54 victory. 

Four Bulldogs scored six points in the second half. Kaylee Nelson scored hers all in the fourth quarter, tallying almost half of her team's points in the frame. The guard did it on 3-3 shooting. Joining her at the six mark for the half were Olson, Hakamaki and Lexi Karge. UMD shot 13-24 (54.2%) from the field compared to just 6-24 (25%) for Minot. The Bulldogs also won the rebounding battle in the second half 19-12. 

UMD closed the game working at a clip of 53.6% overall on 30-56 shooting. Four different Bulldogs ended with double-digits on the night. Hakamaki led with 15 on 6-11 shooting, going 3-6 from three in the process. Olson was right behind her with 14 points on 7-10 shooting of her own. Olson also grabbed a team-leading six rebounds on the night. Both Maesyn Thiesen and Karge ended with 10 points, Thiesen's coming on 3-6 shooting and Karge's on 5-9 shooting. Thiesen also had three assists and two steals. Rhoades had a team-high five assists with two steals of her own.  Hakamaki and Nelson closed out the quartet of Bulldogs with two takeaways. 

The Beavers were led by Kate Heard's 13 points, with 11 of those coming in the second half. Heard also had two assists and two steals on the night. Emily Srejma was Minot's other double-digit scorer with 12 on 6-12 shooting.

POST-GAME WITH PEARSON

The Bulldogs certainly had themselves a night on the offensive end, especially in the bookending chapters of the game. Still, what shouldn't be lost in the sea of buckets and efficient shooting percentages is just how much work the Bulldog defense put in towards silencing the Beavers in the second half. UMD head coach Mandy Pearson credited her team for making the right tweaks to produce that lock-down outing. 

"I thought our players did a great job of making some adjustments after the second quarter - we were more aggressive and in and out of help side a lot better," Pearson said. "They were communicating well and definitely put a lot of effort into playing team defense."