The University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball team is going to the NCAA D-II Final Four.

 

The Bulldogs buried Assumption University 61-41 in their first-ever Elite Eight contest by their biggest NCAA Tournament margin of victory Monday afternoon inside the St. Joseph Civic Center in St. Joseph, Missouri. Despite early foul trouble,  forward Brooke Olson led all scorers with 15 points in just 16:54 of time – nearly a point per minute for the graduate senior.

 

"This is a kind of a dream come true for us, and also I think we're just excited to play another game and to get a crack at, you know, going to the National Championship," said Olson, who has now scored 115 points in four NCAA Tournament games for a 27.7 ppg average.  "This is what we have our eyes on right now, and yes we're going to soak it in. But also we're going to get to work and try to win on Wednesday."

 

UMD's game plan Monday took a small detour when Olson picked up two fouls in the first 2:31 of action, but the Bulldogs rallied in the National Player of the Year's absence to go on a 11-2 run that pushed UMD into a 16-5 lead with 2:20 left to play in the first quarter. That run was jump-started by four-straight points from Ella Gilbertson, and ended with a 16-7 Bulldog advantage after the first 10 minutes of action.

 

The Greyhounds, who came into the game boasting the nation's top defense, were stifled by UMD's efforts, and scored just 14 points by half to the Bulldogs 27.

 

That trend continued in the second half, and by the time Olson returned, UMD held a turnover advantage of 11-1 midway through the third quarter, which helped steer the Bulldogs to a 39-26 lead after three quarters of play.

 

Assumption had its most offensively productive quarter in the fourth, managing 15 points, but the Bulldogs added 21 of their own to put away their first-ever NCAA Elite Eight game and claim their ticket to the NCAA Final Four – the first by a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Collegiate team in a decade.

 

Olson added 10 points in the second half to push her game total to 15 and hauled in six rebounds. Gilbertson posted 12 points, and five of her six boards came on the defensive end of the court. Maesyn Thiesen led all UMD players with seven total rebounds and both sides with a game-high four assists.

 

But it was the Bulldogs defense that did the talking Monday, allowing program NCAA Tournament low 41 points to the Greyhounds, while forcing them into 19 turnovers that led to 22 UMD points. It also marked the second time this season UMD has held an opponent scoreless from the three-point line, all the while keeping Assumption so uncomfortable it shot just 28.3 from the field. 

 

The Bulldogs will continue their historical NCAA Tournament run with a NCAA Final Four appearance Wednesday night at 6:00 p.m. against Catawba College at the St. Joseph Civic Center in St. Joseph, Missouri.

BULLDOG NOTES: UMD continued its record-breaking season by tacking on its 31st win while extening its current win streak to 13-games … UMD is now 12-13 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 5-3 over the tenure of Bulldog bench boss Mandy Pearson … With its12th NCAA triumph, UMD surpassed Augustana for the second-most tournament wins among NSIC schools in league history … multiple Bulldog players broke UMD's single-season game record in the win, stepping past Kelli Ritzer, Mary Zgonc, Denise Holm, Mary Hannula and Sue Peterson for their 34th game played … the old record was 33 games … those players are Taya Hakamaki, Lexi Karge, Kaylee Nelson, Brooke Olson, Taytum Rhoades and Maesyn Thiesen ... the Bulldogs had 28 points from their bench Monday, while the Greyhounds had just five.