THE OPENING TIP

The No. 12 University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball team (20-3 overall, 17-1 NSIC) will take its newly earned NSIC North crown back home to Romano this weekend for another pair of NSIC rematches. The Bulldogs are first set to square off against Mary for White Out Night on Friday, Feb 10 at 7:30 p.m. before meeting Minot State for Pink Out Night on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 5:30 p.m. 

 

LAST TIME OUT

UMD responded to just its first loss in 15 tries in about the best way it ever could have.

It all started with a Friday-night visit to Moorhead to face the Dragons back on Feb. 3. MSUM battled UMD hard the whole way, but ultimately, it was the Bulldogs that were in control for essentially the entire game. It wasn't a matter of whether or not UMD was leading- it was a question of how many possessions it was leading by. 

A 13-8 first quarter from the Bulldogs eventually led them to a 32-26 halftime advantage. In the third quarter, the Dragons really came to play, going 10-16 from the field as a team en route to 26 points. The thing is… UMD did them one better. The Bulldogs shot 9-12 in the frame on the road to 27 points. Just one of those days. UMD's lead eventually ballooned to as high as 15 in the fourth at a score of 70-55 before settling at a final of eight at 70-62.

Brooke Olson had been electric for the Bulldogs in this one, tallying 25 points on 11-17 shooting to go with nine rebounds. Taytum Rhoades somehow struggled to miss shots even more than her contemporary in Olson, as she went 8-9 from the field to finish with 19 points. Thiesen had 10 points on 4-8 shooting to couple with a whopping six assists.

Then came a Saturday visit to Aberdeen to take on Northern State. This game ended up following quite the path. The first quarter belonged entirely to UMD, a 9-16 shooting effort  (met by just a 3-11 mark from the Wolves) helping the Bulldogs to a 19-11 advantage by the end of the frame. But quarter two was all Northern State. The Wolves outscored UMD 23-14 heading into halftime to claw themselves into the lead at 34-33. The third quarter was something of a stalemate, but the Bulldogs ultimately exited it with a regained lead in-tow at a score of 51-49. And in the fourth… UMD sure did seal the deal. The Bulldogs exploded out to a 24-13 run to end the game, one supported by 6-10 shooting from the field and a perfect 11-11 effort from the line. Northern went just 5-13 in the final 10 minutes. All-told, when the smoke settled, the final score read 75-62 UMD. 

There was more to it than that, though. Saturday's victory was enough for the Bulldogs to secure their spot at the top of the NSIC North, winning the division with four games still left to be played. More on that a little later.

It was Olson once again that had led the Bulldogs on the offensive front on their path to divisional glory. The graduate forward put up 20 points on 7-14 shooting (3-5 from deep) to accompany six rebounds. Rhoades had 14 points largely on a whopping 10-10 effort from the free throw line. The senior guard also had five assists and a team-high eight rebounds. Thiesen had 10 points on 3-6 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and a Bulldog-high six assists

 

NO. 1 IN THE NORTH

UMD officially clinching the NSIC North last Saturday marks the program's fourth-consecutive season earning at least a share of the Division Title dating back to 2019-20. Since the inception of the NSIC's divisional system back in 2012-13, the only other team to pull off this feat has been MSU Moorhead in a streak spanning from 2015-16 to 2018-19. The Dragons settled for a share of the title twice- the Bulldogs have only done this once in this stretch of dominance. 

 

CHASING NSIC GLORY

UMD has already won two-consecutive NSIC Championships in the past two seasons that the trophy has been given out, skipping over a COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign in which there was no champ designated. Since the start of the NSIC's documented history all the way back in 1979-80, only four conference three-peats have ever occurred. St. Cloud State was the first to accomplish the feat with three trophies from 1981-82 to 1983-84. MSU Moorhead was the most recent program to wear the honor, snatching at least a share of conference gold from 2016-17 to 2018-19. 

Sandwiched between these two examples are two more NSIC hat-tricks that happen to belong to the same squad: UMD. The Bulldogs became the second team to achieve this task when they won the conference from 1988-89 to 1990-91. Then, UMD went out and did it again from 1997-98 to 1999-2000. The only program to ever pull this off twice is now looking to become the only one to do it three times. 

 

THREE'S A CROWD

Olson's performance across the weekend to help UMD secure its standing as the best of its division was enough to win her her third NSIC POW nod of the year. The graduate forward has earned the accolade seven times across her career. She averaged 22.5 points on 58.1% shooting to go with 7.5 rebounds a game over the course of the two wins. That PPG mark was good for fifth in the NSIC in that span.

 

RANKINGS ROUNDUP

As you might expect for a newfound divisional champion, UMD enjoyed some upward movement in the rankings world this week. The Bulldogs hopped up four spots from No. 16 to No. 12 in the newest WBCA Coaches Poll, their second-highest stature in those rankings all year. And while UMD didn't move up in the D2SIDA Media Poll, there are worse things it could have done than stay put at No. 6. The Bulldogs did see an uptick elsewhere in the D2SIDA space, though, resecuring the top spot in the Central in the Regional Rankings. UMD received four of a possible six first place votes in the process.

 

STATS STATUS REPORT

Olson remains at the top of the pack for the Bulldogs on the scoring front with 20.7 points a night. The graduate forward lands all the way at ninth in the country on the PPG front. Olson also leads the club in rebounds a game with 7.3. Ella Gilbertson is UMD's other double-digit averager with 10 points a night through 19 games played. The junior is working at a clip of 41.3% from deep in the process. And helping to create all of this offense is Maesyn Thiesen, who leads the way with 3.65 assists a game. 

Another week, another paragraph detailing the Bulldogs' truly dangerous concoction of nationally touted team stats. UMD sits at 13th in the country (first in the NSIC) in overall field goal percentage, working at a clip of 46.1%. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs hold opposing teams to an average point total of just 55.8, a team defense that lands at 14th in the nation (also first in the conference). 

 

CATCHING UP WITH: MARY

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The Bulldogs were certainly given a run for their money by the Marauders the first time around.

UMD's first meeting with Mary back on Dec. 10 opened with a back-and-fourth first quarter that ultimately saw the Bulldogs in the driver's seat 18-14 heading into frame number two. In that second quarter, the Marauders came alive on their home court. Mary outscored UMD 24-11 to close out the half, shooting 8-12 in the process. It was enough for the Marauders to walk into the break up 38-29. 

The Bulldogs fought to stay alive throughout the third quarter and did so successfully. UMD outscored Mary 15-13 in the frame while holding the Marauders to just 6-17 shooting from the field after they'd been lights-out a quarter before. Heading into the final frame, the score was 51-41 Mary.

The fourth quarter was the Bulldogs' time to shine. 

All-told, UMD put up 13 points in the final frame- they did that while holding Mary to just six total points through 10 minutes. The Bulldogs held the Marauders to just 2-11 shooting from the field in the quarter. If you're doing the math at home, you'll know all of this means that UMD had done enough to secure overtime at 57-57. 

And there, the Bulldogs' perseverance would be fully rewarded. It was a tight overtime frame, but it was one that UMD ultimately prevailed in. Scoring was 12-9 in the extra five minutes of play, a metric that favored the Bulldogs.  Final score: 69-66 UMD.

Gilbertson had been nothing short of massive for the Bulldogs throughout their comeback bid. She ended the night with a team-leading 20 points on 8-13 shooting. Olson wasn't far behind, pairing her 17 points with nine rebounds and five assists. Taya Hakamaki put up 16 points on a 5-8 shooting effort. Rhoades closed out UMD's double-digit scorers with 10 points on 4-6 shooting to go with three assists.

The Marauders were led by a big performance from Reese Wishart, who tallied 21 points on 9-13 shooting. Megan Zander had 11 points to couple with six rebounds. Moribund Hakim led the team in rebounds with eight while Ryleigh Wacha had seven assists. 

 

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Mary certainly showed it could compete with the best of the NSIC in its last meeting with the Bulldogs, even in defeat. And since that loss, the Marauders have done good work to continue to prove this.

Having been left with a 4-4 record after the loss to UMD, Mary has since rattled off a 9-4 effort to bring its overall record to 13-8. The team comes into this rematch with the Bulldogs riding high on a weekend sweep that saw it snag wins against Minnesota Crookston (76-60) and Bemidji State (48-39). The entirety of this hot streak coming in NSIC play has helped the Marauders develop a pretty impressive in-conference mark of 12-6. 

Pivotal to these winning efforts has been Zander. The senior guard leads her club with 14.6 points a game to go with 5.5 rebounds and 2.33 assists. That rebound mark leaves her inches away from the team-leader in Addison Rozell, who averages 5.6 boards a night right now. Leading the charge on the distribution front has been Carly Kottsick and her 2.62 assists a night.

 

CATCHING UP WITH: MINOT STATE

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

UMD's trip out to Minot back on Dec. 9 ended up being a pretty successful one.

The Bulldogs got off to a huge start and never much looked back after that. By the end of the first quarter, UMD was already up double-digits at a score of 23-11. The Bulldogs had shot 9-14 (64.29%) from the field in the frame. The Beavers were only able to gain one point of ground in the second, the score reading 44-33 by halftime. From there, UMD left little doubt. The Bulldogs outscored Minot by a combined score of 33-21 across the last two quarters. Included in this was a defensive effort from UMD in the fourth quarter that held the Beavers to just seven total points scored in the frame on 2-10 shooting. All of this was enough for the Bulldogs to close out the day with a commanding 77-54 road victory.

Four players ended the game with double digit scoring figures for UMD. Hakamaki was chief among them with 15 points on 6-11 shooting overall and 3-6 shooting from deep. Olson was right behind with 14 points on a 7-10 shooting effort to pair with six rebounds. Thiesen had 10 points on 3-6 shooting to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Lexi Karge also had 10 points off the bench. Leading the way in assists for the Bulldogs was Rhoades with five. 

The Beavers had been led by Kate Head, who tallied 13 points. Emily Srejma had 12 points on a 6-12 shooting night from the field. 

 

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

The loss to UMD left Minot at a record of 5-5. The Beavers' 5-9 effort since that game has landed them slightly below that .500 line at 10-14 overall. Minot holds an NSIC mark of 6-12. 

With all of this in mind, the Beavers' most recent outing was a successful one. After a 70-61 loss to Bemidji State last Friday, Minot scored a big 86-68 victory over Crookston. Kennedy Harris was massive for the Beavers in this winning effort, putting up 28 points on 11-17 shooting from the field. Head had 20 points herself. 

If Minot wants to parlay this victory into a winning streak, that effort will start with their leading scorer in Head. The senior guard's tallying 15.9 points a game right now. Not only that, but Head also leads the club in assists with 3.38 a night. Tack on 4.4 rebounds to the mix, too. That leaves Head pretty close to Minot's leading rebounder in Natasha Elliott, who's averaging 4.7 boards a night right now.

 

THE BROADCASTS

Can't make it to Romano this weekend? No Worries! Catch all the action live through the NSIC Network by clicking the links below:

vs Mary (Friday, Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m.): bit.ly/3jEYvua

vs Minot State (Saturday, Feb. 11 at 5:30 p.m.): bit.ly/3DVhyHj

 

UP NEXT

UMD starts its regular season finale of a week with a road trip out to Crookston to play the Golden Eagles on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m. The Bulldogs then finish things off back in Romano by welcoming Bemidji State to town on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 3:00 p.m.