Moorhead, Minn.- No. 16 UMD women's basketball went up early on MSU Moorhead on Friday and never much looked back, ultimately securing a 70-62 road victory. The win raises the Bulldogs' overall record to 19-3 and leaves it with an unimaginable NSIC mark of 16-1. 

It didn't take long for UMD to secure a two-score lead, a type of mark that would become something of a touchstone throughout this contest. With 9:03 left in the first quarter, the Bulldogs were up 4-0. It was a bit of a defender's delight for most of the rest of frame one, but the minimal scoring that did happen ultimately favored Moorhead. With just 2:35 remaining in the quarter, the Dragons had battled to within two points of evening the score at 7-5. A Taytum Rhoades bucket 20 seconds later would bump the lead back up to two scores at 9-5, where it would stay heading into the second quarter. The Bulldogs' first-frame lead would eventually peak at eight, something only a Mariah McKeever triple as time expired was able to trim down. UMD entered a fresh 10 minutes up 13-8. 

Rhoades had been nothing short of electric to start this one. Eight of the Bulldogs' 13 first quarter points were from the senior guard's hands, and she did it on 4-5 shooting from the field. But those first four points were especially sweet- that's how many Rhoades had needed heading into Friday to hit 500 total points on her career. Everything she put up past that point was house money, including the extra four in this frame. Jot her down for 504 with three quarters remaining.

Team shooting stats through 10 minutes also give us a pretty good feel for how this frame went. UMD shot 6-12 from the field- Moorhead went just 3-17. 

The first minute of quarter two was the Allisa Knight show. The sophomore forward scored two quick buckets that bookended a Brooke Olson layup to bring Moorhead back to within three at 15-12 with 9:06 still to play in the half. But when a Maesyn Thiesen three at the 8:45 mark propelled UMD's lead back to two-possessions one again at 18-12, it'd stay that way for the remainder of the second frame. The Bulldogs' first half lead would eventually peak at nine when an Olson layup made the score 32-23 with only 51 seconds remaining until the break. A Natalie Jens three would soften the blow a touch for the Dragons going into halftime, but they still found themselves trailing by six at a score of 32-26.

At the break, it was Olson that found herself at the top of UMD's scoring charts, having soared up the ranks on the back of an eight-point second half. The graduate guard had 12 total points on 5-7 shooting (2-3 from deep) to pair with six rebounds through 20 minutes. Two more Bulldogs had really made their presences known through big second quarters. The first was Lexi Karge, whose six points on 3-3 shooting had all come in the latter 10 minutes. Thiesen's five points, three assists and two rebounds came a similar way. On the other end, Moorhead did not yet have a double-figure scorer. The Dragons were led by Natalie Jens' nine points.

At the break, UMD was shooting 14-27 as a unit. Meanwhile Moorhead, though it had performed better in the second quarter, was still operating at a team shooting rate of just 9-30. 

Frame three jumped off to a start that was scarily similar to that of frame two, just with new names and numbers plugged into the formula. This time, it was two Terryn Johnson buckets that did the work of sandwiching a Rhoades three to keep Moorhead within two scores at 35-30 with 9:08 to go in the quarter. Yet another Rhoades triple 20 seconds after pushed UMD's lead to three scores. But unlike they'd be able to do with that two-score lead that had developed in a similar way back in the second, the Bulldogs couldn't hold this three-possession mark forever. A Peyton Boom bucket at the 5:45 mark soured those plans, leaving UMD with a 46-41 advantage. Another pesky McKeever three had a similar effect when it left the score at 55-49 with just 48 seconds to go. Even in spite of all this, the Bulldogs enjoyed a lead that blossomed to as high as 11 in the third, last at a score of 55-44. It took a buzzer-beating three from (you guessed it) McKeever to keep UMD from exiting the quarter with a double-digit lead in-tow, the Bulldogs instead having to settle for a 59-52 advantage.

Rhoades had come alive one again in the third frame, outdoing her earlier effort with nine points on perfect 3-3 shooting from the field. Two Bulldogs weren't too far behind with seven points of their own in the quarter, those being Olson and a new name in Madelyn Granica. That pair put up their tallies on 3-4 and 2-3 shooting efforts from the field, respectively.

Quarter three saw the Dragons shoot better than they had all game by a considerable margin. Moorhead went 10-16 as a group through those 10 minutes, an impressive 62.5% shooting percentage. It was an effort spearheaded by McKeever, who potted 12 points on a 4-6 effort from the field throughout the frame. The thing is… not only did the Bulldogs match them in this regard, but they somehow did even better.  This UMD squad shot 9-12, a whopping 75% efficiency clip, in frame number three. It's pretty hard to outdo this group- clearly.

And that fact sure didn't change throughout the final quarter. In fact, when a Rhoades bucket gave the Bulldogs a double-digit lead at 63-53 with 7:49 left in the game, said lead wouldn't dip back down to a single digit until there were just 10 seconds remaining. That's when a pair of Olivia Skibiel free-throws left the score at 70-62, which was ultimately where it would stay by the final buzzer. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs' advantage had climbed to as high as 15, an Olson layup making the score 70-55 at the 2:37 mark. 

Speaking of Olson… she had a prototypical performance in this one. The graduate forward led the Bulldogs with 25 points on 11-17 shooting to go along with a team-high nine rebounds. Right behind Olson was Rhoades, who made 500 career points night one to remember for more reasons than just the accolade. The senior guard closed the night with 19 points on an uber-precise 8-9 effort from the field. Not only that, but Rhoades also chipped in two assists, six rebounds and a team-leading three steals. The last of UMD's double-digit scorers on the evening was Thiesen, who potted 10 points on a 4-8 shooting night to accompany three rebounds and an impressive six assists.

Moorhead was led in this one by McKeever, who closed with 19 points. Jens also hit double-digits, ending the night with 16 points to her name. Skibiel led the team in rebounds with eight. Boom paired nine points with team-highs in assists (four) and steals (three). 

POST-GAME WITH PEARSON

UMD head coach Mandy Pearson's thoughts on this one were short and sweet, shining praise on both Rhoades and the squad at-large.

"Awesome for Taytum," Pearson said. "Proud of our team for sticking together and working hard to have success against a well coached team that plays really hard."