The University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball team is headed to the finals of the NCAA Division II Tournament Central Regional after defeating Minnesota State 86-70. The title game will take place against Missouri Southern State on on Monday, March 13 at 7:00 p.m. It'll be just the second time in UMD program history that the team will play for a chance at the Elite Eight- and it'll happen right here in Romano.
The Bulldogs and Mavericks started out trading buckets until UMD went on an 8-0 run to take the lead 10-7 four minutes into the opening quarter.
Brooke Olson started off perfect from the field for the Bulldogs with a quick seven points- a hint of what was to come.
After
Maesyn Thiesen split the defense for a layup, the Mavericks turned in a 9-0 run to take the lead at 18-16 with 3:16 left in the first quarter. UMD responded with a bucket from Olson and a steal from
Ella Gilbertson (followed by two free throws) to retake the lead at 20-18. Olson landed her second three-pointer of the quarter to give the Bulldogs a 25-20 lead. MSU's Emily Herzberg would make one of two free throws to end quarter number one with a score of 25-21 UMD.
MSU started the scoring in the second frame with a three pointers from Herzberg and Natalie Bremer to take the lead 27-25. However, UMD was quick to answer with a
Taya Hakamaki three pointer from the corner. After the two teams traded turnovers, UMD regained a 30-29 lead on an Olson layup with 5:30 remaining in the second quarter. A
Maesyn Thiesen floater ultimately capped off what was a back-and-fourth affair the rest of the second frame, the score ultimately reading 40-37.
Through 20 minutes, Olson already had 20 points to lead all players- and she did it on 7-9 shooting. The graduate forward also had eight rebounds. Destinee Bursch led the Mavericks with 10 first half points. MSU was held to just 11-32 shooting through the first two quarters of this one.
Olson started where she left off, opening the second half with a personal 7-0 run to give UMD a 47-39 lead. The Bulldogs kept their foot on the gas, breaking out on an 11-2 run to fortify their lead at 51-39 with just under seven minutes remaining in the third quarter. It's a trend that would continue until the end of the frame, as UMD ultimately took a 60-45 lead into the final quarter. All-told, the Bulldogs outscored the Mavericks 20-8 in quarter number three. UMD shot at a whopping 66.7% (6-9) clip while holding MSU to just a 15.4% (2-13) effort.
Olson entered the fourth quarter with 31 points to her name and 10 minutes to- if you can believe it- make that number even higher. And so, she got to work. It took the graduate forward less than three minutes of that time to amass six more points on three separate buckets to leave the score at 71-59. Make it 37 on the night, Add another bucket to the mix with 6:34 to go- 39 points.
Less than a month ago on Feb. 18, Olson potted a new career-high of 40 points. It was senior night back then, a pretty fitting way for the graduate forward to end her regular season tenure as a Bulldogs. The Rice Lake, Wis. native must have a flare for big spots, for sentiment, for storylines, because with a trip to the line with 5:53 to go in the game, she hit 41. That number would close at 43.
And the Bulldogs at-large would end up doing good work to close out the game. UMD's lead never dipped below double figures the entire fourth quarter, avoiding the late Mavericks surge that had been a massive part of these two teams' previous encounters with each other this season. Instead, the Bulldogs outscored MSU 26-25 in the final ten minutes, taking the game 86-70 in the process.
Olson's final stat line is, as has become tradition, tough to believe. The graduate forward's 43 points came on 16-20 (!!) shooting from the field. And she didn't stop there- 14 boards in this one made it a double-double for the forward on the evening. But Olson wasn't alone- three other Bulldogs closed in double figures. Hakamaki had 13 on 4-6 shooting to go with three assists and five rebounds. Thiesen and Rhoades each had 12 points on the night, Thiesen pairing hers with three assists and five boards of her own. Across the entire game, the Bulldogs went 55.1% from the field.
MSU was led by Bursch, who put up 19 points, five rebounds and three assists. Natalie Bremer had 12 points. Taylor Theusch put up 11 points to go with a game-high six assists. The Mavericks were held to just 34.4% (21-61) shooting in this one.
