The University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball team is going to play for an NCAA championship.

The No. 2 Bulldogs made sure of that Wednesday night in their first-ever NCAA Final Four game when UMD defeated No. 6 Catawba College 70-59 in the St. Joseph Civic Center in St. Joseph, Missouri.

UMD, which had already blown by its previous record for wins in a season and now sports a 32-3 record, will face No. 1 Ashland University on Saturday, April 1 inside of American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas. With the win, the Bulldogs also tied an Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference record for wins in a season, and UMD becomes just the seventh NSIC team to win over 30 games in a single season.

"Coming into the tournament, we were like what, it takes five games to get to that national championship?" said graduate senior Brooke Olson after the game. "And I thought wow, that's not too many that we have to win in order or to get there, and so I think we again held on to that. It's definitely surreal. I don't think it'll hit me until after, or maybe when we're in Dallas, and I think that's just gonna be a great experience. So I think we're really just excited to get down there. I'm just really excited to be a part of it."

Catawba scored five straight points to open the game, and led UMD 14-7 at 2:58 of the first quarter, but the Bulldogs took a 19-16 lead on a three-pointer from Madelyn Granica, giving UMD its first advantage of the game.

After picking up her second foul 1:44 left in the first quarter, Olson didn't return to the game until 7:51 in the second quarter, with UMD trailing 25-24. But the forward went to work, recording seven-straight points for the Bulldogs and by the 2:31, UMD had opened up a six point, 36-30 lead.

While Olson kept tallying points on offense in the third quarter, the Bulldogs defense did what it has been doing best in the NCAA Tournament – smothering teams in the third frame. UMD didn't surrender a single field goal in the quarter, and held Catawba to season lows in field goals (16) and shooting percentage (27.6) in the game. The six-point third quarter for Catawba happened solely from the free-throw line, and those six points marked a season-low.

UMD has used its third quarters to pull away from teams over the tournament, and Wednesday was no different. The Bulldogs have allowed just 50 points through five games, forcing opponents into a 23.1  field goal percentage (15-of-65) and just 2-of-14 from three-point land (14.2).

The Bulldogs took a 48-39 lead into the final quarter, a lead that was never truly in jeopardy for the final 10 minutes. Ella Gilbertson continued her strong NCAA tournament, and made three-straight buckets to open the quarter. Catawba's last efforts were futile, and despite pulling within six points with 19.2 left in the game, Olson hit three-of-four possible free throw attempts in the final 16.3 to seal UMD's first-ever win in the NCAA Final Four.

Olson led all scorers with 34 points, and now stands just four points shy (145) of breaking the single-NCAA tournament record of 149 points set in 2009. Gilbertson added 14 off the bench, along with Taya Hakamaki, who had seven points and three assists and who attacked the basket at times UMD needed it most. Olson finished with a game-high 10 rebounds, while Gilbertson added six boards to go with three steals. The Bulldogs out-rebounded Catawba 41-30, who finished its season 29-5.

UMD will do it all over again 10 days from now in its first NCAA title tilt on Saturday, April 1. The ball will tip-off at 2:30 p.m.

BULLDOG NOTES: UMD is now 13-13 all-time in the NCAA tournament, while UMD head coach Mandy Pearson and her two graduate seniors Brooke Olson and Maesyn Thiesen are 6-3 … Thiesen played all 40 minutes Wednesday night and held Catawba's leading scorer Lyrik Thorne to just 11 points … Olson is averaging 24.1 ppg in six NCAA Tournament outings, while Ella Gilbertson is contributing 9.5 … UMD is outscoring its opponents 87-50 in the third quarter … Olson earned her seventh double and now has eight games with at least 30 points, including five in the last five games … it was the graduate senior's 29th straight-game scoring in double figures.