Duluth, Minn.- The 2022-33 University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball team's already left several marks in the record books this season- why not another? With a 77-76 nail-biter of a victory against Missouri Southern State in Romano on Monday, the Bulldogs punched their ticket to their first Elite Eight berth in program history. 

That opening would've seemed like something close to a dream based on how this game started. 

It was MSSU that came out of the gate red-hot in this one. After a Madelyn Granica layup dug UMD out of an early five-point hole to knot the score up at nine, the Lions ran out on a 10-2 spurt to secure a first-quarter lead as high as eight at 19-11. A Brooke Olson three would trim that back down to five before the end of the frame. Fittingly, too, as the graduate forward already had 10 points through 10 minutes. 

It seemed like the Bulldogs might ride that late deep ball to an even score, as a Granica triple left them within three at 21-18 by the 8:29 mark of the second. But then, the Lions stormed back to life. A massive 24-9 MSSU run through the rest of the frame gave the Lions the keys to an 18-point lead at a score of 45-27 heading into the break. MSSU went 9-17 along the way, all while holding UMD to just a 4-16 mark from the field. 

It'd been a balanced scoring attack from the Lions that had helped them cement such an advantage. Kryslyn Jones led the way with 12 points on 5-7 scoring, but Layne Skiles was right behind her with 10 points on a 4-6 effort. Lacy Stokes paired seven points with four assists. Olson was UMD's lone double-digit scorer through 20 minutes, with 12 points to go with a game-high six rebounds.

It seemed as if the Lions just couldn't be contained, something that didn't change at the top of the second half. By the 9:30 mark, a Madi Stokes bucket had pushed MSSU's lead all the way to 20 at 27-47. She'd score again shortly thereafter to reaffirm that advantage at 51-31.

It does nobody any good to look at that kind of deficit as a lump sum- there's no secret 20-point bucket that can even things up all at once. Instead, you have to start small, work possession by possession. So, that's what the Bulldogs did.

And it was working. Lower and lower the Lions' lead became over the rest of the third quarter, still at double-figures but dwindling. What better way to trim it back down to a single digit than with a three-point play, something Hakamaki provided at the 1:18 mark to make the score just 53-45 Lions. The crowd had come alive, and momentum really seemed to be swinging. Again, wasn't all at once- slow and steady. But MSSU would have the last laugh in the third, a Lacy Stokes bucket pushing the lead back to 10 at 57-47.

Still… what a stretch it'd been for UMD. The Bulldogs had broken off on a 16-6 run since they'd last been down 20 to cut the daunting lead right in half, and it'd only taken them less than eight minutes. Hakamaki alone had 10 points in the frame. UMD had a whole 10 minutes left in the tank to do it all over.

But the Lions were far from done. 

MSSU started scoring in bunches again to start the fourth as if it had never stopped. With just 5:31 left in the game, the Lions' lead was back up to 17. Erasing 10 in eight is one thing- 17 in less than six is another. But what have we learned? That kind of thinking is pointless. All anyone can do is take it one play, one moment at a time. 

So the Bulldogs started compiling some moments. 

A Gilbertson layup with 5:17 left, followed by another bucket from the junior guard a little over a minute later. A classic Olson layup with 3:48 remaining- boom, the lead's already back down to 10. Only took a hair under two minutes. Why stop there? With 2:31 remaining, Rhoades pushed in for a layup of her own to trim the deficit down to a single digit for the first time since 55-47. Moment after moment after moment after moment- and the Romano crowd was loving it. 

But these Lions were battle-tested. MSSU already knew what a postseason comeback looked like- it'd been on the right side of two of them already. If you can't count them out when they're down, it'd be ill-advised to do so when they're ahead. 

And with just 2:07 remaining, MSSU pushed the envelope even further. Two free throws from Lacy Stokes paired with an earlier free throw Madi Stokes made the Lions' lead 11 once more at a score of 72-61. The foul game had begun, the only real way to extend the game- to stretch out the time for more moments.

 Next in the storyline- a Maesyn Thiesen three. 72-64, 1:38 on the clock. Exactly 10 seconds later, Gilbertson again- six-point game. But to have the time to do any of this- or to finish the job- UMD still had to keep fouling. The method giveth and taketh away, and we saw an example of the latter in action when Lacy Stokes sunk two cold-blooded layups in the roar of the Romano crowd to make the lead eight at 74-66 with only 1:24 to play. 

Don't look at the clock- until the final buzzer, go, go, go. Who else but Olson, a triple from the graduate forward trimming the contest down to two scores at 74-69. 

The thing about free-throws is… they're never guaranteed. Stokes would sink one of her attempts from the line after being fouled with just 55 seconds to play, but she wouldn't make both. 75-69. 

Thiesen sure can pass the ball, huh? She's got over 400 assists across her storied career with the Bulldogs, edging closer to 500. The thing is, though… she can shoot, too. Even from deep. The graduate guard's second triple of the game left the deficit down to just a single score, 75-72. Still 43 seconds to work with-might as well be an eternity now.

It'd be easy to believe there was a perpetual low-grade earthquake happening in Romano by this point. Probably not the most amicable conditions to make free throws- this was proven pretty quickly. Once again, MSSU had to settle for just one at the stripe. That pushed the lead back up to two scores, but only at 76-72. UMD still had 40 ticks.

Rhoades has been a warrior for the Bulldogs all season, all throughout her career. She does all the little things right. But on the grandest stage the senior guard's ever seen, she did something pretty big. Her putback bucket with only 31 seconds remaining left UMD's hill at just two points, the score now 76-74.

10 points in a minute and 36 seconds. Not bad. But it wouldn't mean much to this squad unless it got three more. 

Much has been said about the Bulldogs' offensive effort on Monday- and rightfully so. But this is a nationally-touted defense, too, and they'd give a pretty big reminder of that next. On MSSU's ensuing inbound try, Lacy Stokes got tied up with- guess who- Rhoades. Possession arrow, UMD. Not even a chance at two freebies for the Lions- the Bulldogs now held control of their own destiny. 

If there's ever been another double-digit averager on on the stats sheet for the Bulldogs across the season, it's been Gilbertson. UMD may be a well-oiled machine from an offensive perspective, but the junior guard has been a crucial piece of that puzzle. And boy, was she important for the Bulldogs in this one. With 31 ticks remaining, the Lake Zurich, Ill. native had nine fourth-quarter points, 18 across the entire game. And on a night like this, each-and-every one of those was massive.

But it's hard to imagine that Gilbertson's ever made a shot in her life bigger than the one she'd take next. 

With exactly 16 seconds remaining, the guard pulled up. Forget playing for a tie- she had her sights set on the lead. Up the three-ball soared until eventually… swish. 77-76. Not since the score was 5-4 had the Bulldogs been in control- they were now. Good timing, too- just 15 ticks remaining.

It's safe to say that UMD's offense had done about all it could do to aid the squad's comeback bid- now, it was the defense's turn to finish the job. MSSU called a timeout to gather its troops- after, it was right back to work. 

The theme of the game so far: moments. No contest is ever played all at once in a single move. Instead, there are touchstones, individual spots to look back on and study. Sometimes it can be hard to know you're living in a touchstone while it's happening- that wasn't the case here. All moments are important, but this one, well..

Dribble, dribble, dribble. Seconds continued to fly by as the Lions looked for a play. They'd get the ball to Kryslyn Jones, who'd been massive for them all game. Certainly worse hands to put the game into. And before the buzzer, Jones would get a shot off. No matter what, this was it. You can't take it play-by-play anymore once you run out of time for plays. 

No good. Buzzer sounds. With it erupts an even louder noise from the Romano crowd, one of joy, relief, maybe just a touch of disbelief. But with this team… was it ever really in doubt? 

Time to start handing out salutations. First up: Olson. The Central Regional MVP notched a double-double of 21 points and 12 boards in what will definitely be her Romano swansong- not a bad way to say farewell. Right next to her on the scoring podium was Gilbertson, who also scored 21 points, with 12 of those coming in just the last 10 minutes. She joined Olson on the All-Central Region Team for those efforts.  Rounding out the double-digit scorers was Hakamaki, who netted 16 points to couple with a four assists mark that tied Rhoades for the team lead. Hakamaki was the third and final Bulldog on the All-Central squad. 

As a team, UMD shot a whopping 12-22 from the field in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the Bulldog defense held MSSU without a proper field goal for the final 5:31 of the night. 

One thing was undoubtedly consistent for UMD across the contest- discipline from the line. The Bulldogs shot 10-11 from the charity stripe in the game. The Lions ended up going 16-20.

What MSSU did in this game cannot be  taken away from it, though. The Lions left it all out on the court. Four of them finished the contest in double figures. Lacy Stokes led the way with a double-double of 22 points and ten boards to go with five assists. Jones had 18 points on 6-11 shooting. Madi Stokes potted 13 on a 5-7 effort. Skiles closed the game with 12 points. Lacy and Skiles represented the Lions on the All-Central Region Team. 

If you're into trivia, here's a jingle for you on your way out: this was UMD's largest comeback bid of any kind in more than a decade. The last time the Bulldogs clawed back from 20+ down was a 21-point swing against St. Cloud State back on Feb. 6 of 2009. UMD would end up winning that one 68-65. That was 394 games ago, it sure wasn't in the tournament and it sure didn't send the Bulldogs into the Elite Eight for the first time ever. 

For UMD's post game press conference featuring head coach Mandy Pearson and All-Central Region players Olson, Hakamaki and Gilbertson, click here.