Crookston, Minn.- No. 11 UMD women's basketball secured an impressive 99-52 victory against the Golden Eagles in Crookston on Thursday. The win propelled the Bulldogs' in-conference mark to 20-1, which was enough for them to secure sole possession of the NSIC Championship. UMD's overall record is now 23-3 heading into its final contest of the regular season on Saturday.
There was little doubt right out of the gate in this one that the Bulldogs had come to play.
It took just 1:35 for UMD to put the finishing touches on an 8-0 scoreless run with a Maesyn Thiesen triple. Not long after, at the 6:38 mark, it was Thiesen again that scored (this time a layup) to push the Bulldog advantage to double digits at 12-2. UMC's Alex Page would pot a free throw to trim that lead back down to nine shortly thereafter. However, when Karge sank a layup to put UMD back up double figures at 14-3 with 5:56 to go in the frame… the lead would stay at two digits the entire rest of the game.
It was an advantage that UMD simply kept building upon, all while totally neutralizing the Golden Eagles on the other end of the court. By the 3:35 mark of the frame, Brooke Olson had potted a layup to put the Bulldogs up a whopping 20 points at 25-5. UMD's grip over the contest just continued to tighten- by the end of the first quarter, the lead was 26, the score 36-10 UMD.
Seven Bulldogs had contributed to the scoresheet through 10 minutes. Chief among them was Olson, who tallied nine points on 4-5 shooting in the first frame. As a unit, UMD went 14-16 from the field in the opening quarter. The Bulldogs did this while limiting the Golden Eagles to just a 3-16 effort.
But UMC didn't stop fighting- and that showed throughout the second quarter. For as great as UMD's advantage would grow to become later on in this game, it struggled to develop much further within the vacuum of the second frame. The Bulldogs had flirted with expansion into the 30s when a Karge layup had made it 49-20 with 5:12 to go, but this is precisely when UMC broke off on an 8-0 run to bring the lead all the way back down to 21 at 49-28. This ended up being a sign of things to come, as the Golden Eagles would trim their deficit down to as low as 19 to close out the frame, the score sitting at 51-32 heading into the break. All-told, UMC had gone on a 12-2 run since that earlier 49-20 score.
It would prove to be far-and-away the Golden Eagles' best shooting effort through 10 minutes in this one, as they finished the second quarter with an 8-15 mark from the field. It was an effort that'd been led by Bren Fox, who tallied 10 points on 3-3 shooting to go with five rebounds. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs had been championed by Karge, who had a team-high eight points on 4-5 shooting in the second quarter.
Speaking of Karge, it was the freshman that found herself at the top of the scoring charts for the Bulldogs at halftime. Karge had 14 points on 7-8 shooting, with four rebounds added into the mix to-boot. For reference, heading into this game, 14 was Karge's career high for point production through an entire game- it'd taken her just 20 minutes to hit that here.
As a team, UMD was simply lights-out in the first half. The Bulldogs were operating at a field goal percentage of 67.3% off of a 21-31 effort. UMD went 7-12 from behind the arc alone. And the Bulldogs did all of this while holding Crookston to just a 33.5% efficiency clip (on 11-31 shooting) in the half. UMD's lone Achilles heel through 20 minutes had been its discipline. Nine Bulldog fouls had generated 12 free throw opportunities for the Golden Eagles in the frame, and they'd cashed in on 10 of them.
But with a new quarter came a new opportunity, and the Bulldogs took advantage of this philosophy. Once Olson scored to push the Bulldogs' lead to 21 at 55-34 with 8:51 remaining in frame number three, the advantage wouldn't dip below 20 not just for the rest of the quarter but for the rest of the game. Instead, UMD continued to add layer upon layer to the lead. And once Ella Gilbertson converted a massive and-one with 4:16 left in the quarter to make it 66-36… you guessed it- the lead would stay at 30+ down the stretch. Fittingly, it was a pair of Gilbertson free throws that ultimately left UMD with what was at the time a game-high advantage of 34 going into the final frame, the score 75-41 UMD.
Olson had been instrumental in the Bulldogs' expansion efforts throughout the quarter. The graduate forward had potted 12 more points throughout the frame on a 4-5 shooting effort. This made up the bulk of what was a 7-13 performance from the field for the Bulldogs as a unit in the quarter. Meanwhile, UMC shot only 4-15 in the third.
It's pretty hard to quantify what UMD would go on to do in the fourth quarter, so maybe putting it very plainly is the best way to go. At just the 8:41 mark of the frame, Gilbertson sank a layup to make the score 81-41 Bulldogs. It was UMD's largest lead of the night to that point, which is impressive enough, but get this- the lead wouldn't dip below 40 for the rest of the night. For nearly an entire quarter, the Bulldogs were up big. And they still didn't stop fortifying the advantage, either. UMD's lead eventually capped at 47- its margin of victory. The final score, one that'd been sent off with two-consecutive buckets from Abby Johnson, was 99-52 Bulldogs.
A total of 14 Bulldogs saw the court throughout the fourth frame. It was Myra Moorjani that ultimately led that pack with eight points on 3-4 shooting. Even in a quarter that saw so many rotations in the lineup, the Bulldogs didn't lose their scoring touch- UMD went 11-18 from the field in the final frame. And there was still no expense paid on the defensive side of the ball, either, as UMC was held to just a 3-10 shooting effort in the closing 10 minutes.
When looking at the second half in its totality, it was Olson that ultimately rode a huge third quarter to the top of the team's scoring charts through those 20 minutes with 14 total points on 5-6 shooting. This was part of what was an 18-31 effort from the field for UMD at-large. UMC shot just 7-25 overall in the second half.
Speaking of Olson, the graduate forward ultimately led her team in scoring throughout the entire contest, recording 23 points on the night on 9-11 shooting. The Rice Lake, Wis. native also had four rebounds to her name. Next up in the scoring race was Karge. Remember that the freshman forward had already matched her career-high in points through just 20 minutes. It was perhaps inevitable, then, that she'd go on to hit a new personal touchstone of 18 points by the end of the game. The Mankato, Minn. native did it on 9-10 shooting from the field, no less, all while also grabbing five rebounds. Taya Hakamaki and Gilbertson each closed the night with 12 points on perfect shooting outings of 4-4 and 3-3, respectively. Hakamaki also recorded four assists, with Gilbertson adding three steals.
UMD's 99 points on the night are the most the team has scored in more than a decade, dating back to a 99-76 victory against Bemidji State on Jan. 3, 2011. That 47- point margin of victory? That's the highest dating back to at least 2001-02. It was really one of those types of nights for the Bulldogs on Thursday.
UMC was led by Janie Tormanen, who ended the game with 18 points on 7-10 shooting. Fox potted 16 points herself while grabbing eight boards. The Golden Eagles shot just 18-56 from the field throughout the whole contest.
POST-GAME WITH PEARSON
For UMD head coach Mandy Pearson, the name of the game has always been advancement.
This Bulldog squad is already good. 23-3 good. Top of the NSIC good. And a performance like the one the squad put up on Thursday can be seen as a culmination of this, the team landing new season benchmarks in both points scored and overall field goal percentage simultaneously. With all of this being said… there's nothing that says UMD can't get even better.
In the spirit of this, Pearson reaffirmed the mantra of development after Thursday's win. But that doesn't mean she didn't like what she saw from her squad in Crookston.
"It's absolutely our goal to continue improving," Pearson said. "I thought our players did a good job of moving the ball and being patient offensively."
Speaking of improvement… what a night it was for the freshman in Karge. The forward's really started to come into her own as an offensive mainstay for this talented UMD squad as the season has progressed, and tonight was the culmination of those efforts- so far, at least.
It's something that hasn't gone unnoticed by Pearson.
"Lexi is doing an awesome job and continues getting better every day," Pearson said. "It's a tough league, and it has been fun to watch her development throughout the year."
