THE OPENING TIP
No. 16 UMD women's basketball (18-3 overall, 15-1 NSIC) looks to start a fresh winning streak on the road, where it will re-encounter two NSIC North squads. The Bulldogs meet MSU Moorhead on Friday, Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m. before matching up with Northern State in Aberdeen on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 6:00 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend couldn't have started much better for the Bulldogs.
Friday night saw UMD take on Wayne State in Romano. The Wildcats were able to keep things interesting through 10 minutes, the score sitting at just 20-18 UMD going into quarter two. Then… that second quarter actually happened. It was pure domination on display by the Bulldogs, who outscored the Wildcats 25-9 across frame number two. That left UMD with a resounding 45-27 lead at the break.
From there, there was only really one true scare against the Bulldogs' grip over this contest. With 1:44 left in the third frame, Wayne had clawed itself back to within 10 points at a score of 55-45 UMD. Well…the Bulldogs' lead was back up to 18 going into the fourth at 63-45. And 20 seconds into the final frame, Brooke Olson potted a layup to extend UMD's lead up to 20. Ultimately, that's where it would finish at- the Bulldogs took this one 74-54.
Olson ultimately led the day with a double-double of 22 points (on 9-11 shooting) and 11 rebounds. She also dished out four assists and blocked four shots. Taya Hakamaki had 18 points to pair with four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Taytum Rhoades had 12 points on an impressive 4-7 outing from deep.
Then came Saturday.
There was little question that Augustana was a worthy opponent. The Vikings came into this contest with an 18-3 record, a 12-3 mark in NSIC play. And there was also little doubt that this squad was as motivated as any to be the first blemish on UMD's resume in some time.
Through the early stages of Saturday's contest, there was certainly ample evidence to support both statements above. At the break, the Bulldogs found themselves up just three at a score of 18-16. It'd been a hard-nosed duel through 20 minutes, and there was little reason to believe it'd be any different the rest of the way.
Enter the third quarter. Through most of its 10 minute runtime, this frame was pretty unsuspecting in terms of reversing any of the trends we'd seen so far. But towards the end of the quarter… the Vikings got hot. All of the sudden, a 10-3 Augustana run had left it up seven at a score of 37-30 heading into the final frame.
It was a lead, a scoring run, that could've been seen as a myth to that point in the game. If they could pull something like that off, it seemed like the Vikings might be in the driver's seat for good- not so fast. A 9-2 Bulldog effort to open quarter four evened the score once again at 39-39. But just as UMD seemed to be getting things going itself, the Vikings countered right back with an 8-2 run of their own to make it 47-41 with just 4:57 left.
Fast-forward to the 16 second mark. The Bulldogs are down just two at a score of 51-49, but Michaela Jewett is at the line for the Vikings with aspirations of icing this one. Suddenly… the Vikings are issued a bench technical. This will prove to reward the Bulldogs with two free throws of their own in a second, but hold that thought. Up go Jewett's attempts… she misses one of them. The same couldn't be said for Maesyn Thiesen, who buried both of her freebies. Just like that, the score was just 52-51 Vikings.
But even one of the stranger sequences you'll see in a basketball game didn't end up being enough to propel the Bulldogs to victory. They'd ultimately fall 53-51 in this one, snapping their 14-game winning streak and undefeated NSIC mark in the process.
RANKINGS ROUNDUP
The Bulldogs only took a few steps back in the rankings world after their loss to Augustana. The newest WBCA Poll slotted UMD at No. 16, down six spots from last week's rank of No. 10. The Bulldogs only fell two spots in the most recent D2SIDA Poll, going from No. 6 to No. 8. In the D2SIDA's Regional Rankings, UMD was bumped from No. 1 to No. 2- however, the Bulldogs still received a first-place vote.
STATS STATUS REPORT
Olson has continued to be an offensive dynamo for the Bulldogs, averaging a team-high 20.6 points a night. That PPG mark is good enough to propel Olson to No. 10 in the country in that category. It's a nationally renowned scoring effort that's coming at a shooting clip of 52.7% from the field. All the while, the graduate forward also leads all Bulldogs in average rebounds with 7.3 a game.
Gilbertson currently rounds out UMD's list of double-digit averagers, potting in 10.3 points a game. The junior's scoring efforts are largely crafted from beyond the arc- her shooting clip from deep is currently 42.1%.
Helping to facilitate the offensive operation is Thiesen, who leads the team in average assists with 3.43 a night.
As a unit, the Bulldogs are still lethal in two major facets of the game, fields that pair pretty well together. UMD's team defense is best in the NSIC and 14th in the entire country. It limits opposing teams to an average of just 55.2 points a game. Meanwhile, offensively, the Bulldogs operate with uber efficiency. UMD's team field goal percentage of 45.5% is tops in the conference and 15th nationally.
THE RHOADE TO 500
Rhoades accumulated 21 more points across last weekend's contests, leaving her career scoring total at 494. That means that with just six more points this weekend, the senior guard will hit half a millennium's worth of points across three seasons and change as a Bulldog. Quite the feat that would be.
CATCHING UP WITH: MSU MOORHEAD (10-10 OVERALL, 7-9 NSIC)
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
It was quite the start to the new year for UMD.
By the time they welcomed the Dragons to Romano back on Jan. 1, the Bulldogs found themselves on a six-game winning streak. At this stage, UMD was beating any squad in its sight- MSU Moorhead just happened to find itself next on the list.
The Bulldogs' start was indicative of a team that had started NSIC play 8-0, the squad running out to a 12-4 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Dragons were able to close that gap to two scores at 21-16 at one point in the second frame, but it'd be short-lived. An ensuing 9-0 UMD run to close out the first half left the Bulldogs up double-figures at 30-16 heading into the break.
It'd be Moorhead that would start out half number two with a bit of a frenzy. The Dragons scored eight unanswered at the top of the third quarter, again cutting their deficit down to just two buckets at 30-24. It took them less than three minutes to do so, too. But these Bulldogs are pretty hard to shake- instead, they responded. And by the end of the third quarter, UMD had redeveloped its lead to 12 at a score of 48-36.
There'd be no Dragons surge to speak of in the final frame. Instead, UMD would fortify its advantage to as high as 19 at a score of 60-41. The final wouldn't be too far off from this- the Bulldogs ended up taking this one 60-45.
Several Bulldogs had stepped up in a big way in this one to help keep their team's streak alive. Olson tallied a double-double of 19 points (on 8-16 shooting) to go with 10 rebounds. Thiesen was all over the court, tallying 12 points on a 6-11 effort from the field to pair with five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Gilbertson potted 10 points on a 3-6 shooting effort. Rhoades had eight rebounds and four assists.
The Dragons were led by Natalie Jens, who scored a game-high 23 points on 7-11 shooting.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Since falling short on the road against UMD back at the start of January, MSU Moorhead has continued to hover around the .500 line. The Dragons are 4-5 in their nine contests since New Year's Day, their most recent effort being a win against Winona State to leave them at an exact mark of 10-10.
At the top of the pack for Moorhead in its efforts to break into the green has been Peyton Boom. The senior center leads the team in points per game with 15 a night, those tallies coming on an impressive 55.9% shooting clip. Boom also holds the team-high in rebounds per game with 8.6 she averages 2.4 assists a night to top it all off. Hovering just below Boom in the scoring race is Mariah McKeever, who's averaging 14.9 points a night. The junior guard's pairing her tallies with 6.8 rebounds and 2.65 assists a game. Last but not least when it comes to double-figure averagers is Jens, who's potting 13.3 points a night right now. The sophomore guard also averages 4.7 rebounds and a team-high mark of 3.3 assists a game.
CATCHING UP WITH: NORTHERN STATE (12-10 OVERALL, 7-9 NSIC)
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The last time UMD faced the Moorhead- Northern State weekend gauntlet, the Bulldogs played the Wolves before playing the Dragons. Since you already know what the state of things were for UMD heading into that Moorhead game… what you're about to read here won't be much of a surprise.
New Year's Eve started pretty favorably for the Bulldogs. By the end of the first quarter, UMD was already up on Northern State by double-figures at a score of 22-12. Quarter two wouldn't do much to change things- the Bulldogs took a 39-28 lead into the break. It was in the third quarter that things got a little more dicey.
That was the only period of the game in which Northern was able to outscore UMD, doing so by a margin of 17-13. With just 2:24 remaining in the frame, the Wolves had worked themselves to within three points of a tie at 46-43. Yet again, though, the Bulldogs didn't panic. They were able to jump out on a mini 6-2 run to go into quarter four up 52-47.
But such a run wasn't enough to silence the Wolves. Northern would counter with a 7-3 run of its own to open the final frame, bringing it back to within a bucket at 55-52 with just 7:38 remaining. Unfortunately for the Wolves, they were just never quite able to finish the job all the way through. UMD would never even allow Northern to fully knot up the score the rest of the way. By the game's end, UMD had secured a 70-63 victory.
It was Gilbertson that had been best in show in the scoring category for the Bulldogs in this one, leading the team with 14 points on a 6-10 effort from the field. The junior also grabbed eight rebounds to go with a pair of steals and assists. Olson scored 12 points to go with five boards and two assists, blocks and steals. Rhoades had 12 points and five rebounds of her own. Thiesen registered 11 points, five boards and a couple of assists and steals.
The alpha wolf had been Kailee Oliverson, who led her squad with 19 points.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
The Wolves have followed a trajectory very similar to that of the Dragons since losing to UMD. Northern State has gone exactly 5-5 since that New Year's Eve defeat. The team enters this new weekend on a two-game losing skid, dropping consecutive contests to Winona State and Upper Iowa.
If the Wolves are going to break out of this mini drought, Oliverson will likely play a major role. The redshirt-junior forward currently leads her club in average scoring with 14 a night to go along with six rebounds a game. Another major piece will have to be Laurie Rogers, a senior forward that's done a bit of everything for Northern this season. Rogers averages 11.3 points a game on top of game-to-game marks of 7.5 rebounds and 2.32 blocks. She leads the team in each of those last two arenas. In fact, when it comes to swatting the ball away, Rogers is a little more than just best amongst the Wolves- she's seventh in the entire country in average blocks. Then there's Rianna Fillipi, a junior guard who pairs 10.5 points a night with a team-high mark of 3.55 assists a game.
THE BROADCASTS
Catch this weekend's action live through the NSIC Network by clicking the links below:
vs MSU Moorhead (Friday, Feb. 3 @ 7:30 p.m.): bit.ly/3HX6ADS
vs Northern State (Saturday, Feb. 4 @ 5:30 p.m.): bit.ly/3Rwjs6U
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs head back home to Romano next weekend for two more NSIC rematches. UMD first welcomes Mary on Friday, Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m. before meeting Minot State on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 5:30 p.m.
