Duluth, Minn.- No. 12 UMD women's basketball registered a 63-41 win over Minot State in Romano on Saturday night. The victory was enough for the towering 22-3 Bulldogs to secure at least a share of the NSIC Championship by the season's end with a current in-conference mark of 19-1. It's still more-than-possible that UMD ends up winning the conference outright, too. 

The Bulldogs' start to this one made it pretty clear why NSIC gold was on standby in the arena. UMD had jumped out to a 6-0 lead by the 6:42 mark, an advantage that ballooned to seven at 13-6 off of a Taya Hakamaki three with 4:15 remaining. Credit to the Beavers, though, as they sawed away at this deficit to close out the quarter. MSU rattled off a 7-2 run in the last four minutes and change to bring UMD's lead down to just two at 15-13 through 10 minutes.

Brooke Olson was a force to be reckoned with in quarter number one. The graduate forward potted six points on a 3-5 shooting effort to go with six rebounds. And as a unit, the Bulldog defense was making life tough for the Beavers. MSU shot just 4-15 (26.7%) from the field throughout the frame.

But the Beavers were able to parlay their hot streak late in the first quarter into sustained success at the start of the second. By the 7:25 mark, MSU had taken its first lead of the game off of a Natasha Elliott triple to make it 18-17 Beavers. When Olson scored shortly thereafter to leave the score at 19-18 UMD with 6:33 on the clock, however… Well, hindsight tells us that this ended up being a pretty monumental bucket. The Bulldogs didn't just go on to lead the rest of the second quarter- they never trailed in the game again.

In a vacuum, UMD's biggest advantage was seven in the second frame, last at a score of 27-20 with 2:34 to go until the break. The Beavers would ultimately pot one more bucket before halftime to trim that down to five at 27-22. 

Olson hadn't slowed down through 20 minutes of play. The graduate forward had 10 points on a 5-8 effort in the half to pair with six rebounds. Taytum Rhoades led the team in assists through two quarters with three. UMD's defensive ways hadn't slowed down in the second frame- MSU's team shooting percentage was at just 25% (7-28) at the break.

The third quarter proved to be a bit of a roller coaster. An early Elliott two-pointer trimmed UMD's advantage down to just a single score at 27-24 only for the Bulldogs to respond with a quick 4-0 sprint to rocket it back up to seven at 31-24 with 7:24 to go in the frame. Rhoades and Hakamaki trading buckets had been enough to get the job done. It sure hadn't put the Beavers out of the game for good, though- MSU responded with a 4-0 counter-punch to make it 31-28 with 4:30 to play in the frame. But things went a little differently after Lexi Karge was able to run UMD's lead back up to two scores with a pair of free throws to make it 33-28 with 4:11 on the clock. From that point onwards, the Bulldogs made sure their hold over the contest never dipped below two possessions. 

UMD's third-period grip would grow to as high as 10, last by way of an Ella Gilbertson triple to make it 41-31 with 1:40 left in the quarter. The Bulldog advantage ultimately settled to eight at 42-34 by the frame's end.

Gilbertson had been big for UMD in its efforts to cushion its lead. The junior tallied a team-high of six points throughout quarter number three while shooting exactly 2-2 from the field. Hakamaki also had five points in the frame. Things just kept clicking for UMD on the defensive side of the floor- MSU only went 4-17 (23.5%) through these 10 minutes.

Just 13 seconds into the final frame, Karge potted a layup to give UMD a double-digit lead at 44-34. The Beavers would eventually cut matters back down to eight at 46-38 off of a Kate Heard make. That's the last time MSU would get so close- an Olson bucket with 6:10 left would cement a double-figure lead in stone for UMD until the final buzzer. By the 2:39 mark, the advantage had blossomed to 20 at 59-39 by way of a Hakamaki three. It'd stay at at least that mark for the remainder of the game, peaking at 22, which is exactly what the lead had rested at by the game's end. The Bulldogs floated into NSIC Title celebrations on a 63-41 victory. 

Olson put up another dominant half through the last 20 minutes, compiling another 10 points on a 4-6 shooting mark to go along with three rebounds. Gilbertson potted eight points in the half on perfect 3-3 shooting to go with three boards of her own. Hakamaki also had eight points, hers coming largely by a 2-4 mark from deep. The junior guard kept things rolling with three rebounds. Karge had six points on 2-4 shooting in the closing two quarters to go along with… three rebounds.

Olson ended the day with 20 points on 9-14 shooting. The graduate forward has notched at least 20 points in seven of her last eight tries. Saturday's tallies came on a 9-14 effort from the field. Olson also had nine rebounds and two steals on the night. Hakamaki ended with 13 points on 5-11 overall and 3-6 shooting from deep. The junior guard also had six rebounds. Karge had 10 points to her name off of a 3-5 effort from the field to pair with four rebounds. Gilbertson had 10 points, four rebounds and two steals. Maesyn Thiesen continued her rebounding ways with eight boards on the night.

The Beavers were led by Elliott, who tallied 20 points on 4-8 shooting from deep to go along with six rebounds. Heard also crossed double figures with 11 points. MSU was held to just 13-58 (22.4%) shooting from the field on Saturday.