The University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball team has earned a 2-0 start to Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) competition after overtaking the University of Minnesota Crookston 76-54 inside Romano Gymnasium.

Combining for nearly half of the team's total points was Claire Bjorge with a career high 25 points and Myra Moorjani with 22 points. Bjorge shot 66.7% (10-15) from the field while Moorjani hit 50% (9-18).

Entering the match, the Bulldogs and Golden Eagles kept pace with each other, changing leads multiple times throughout the first eight minutes. As just over two minutes remained in the first quarter, a three-pointer from Drew Johnston began a 7-0 scoring run for a 22-14 UMD advantage to complete the first quarter.

The Bulldogs picked up where they left off at the start of the second quarter. Moorjani broke away nine seconds in to force a 10-point lead. UMD continued to hold off Minnesota Crookston, going on an 8-6 scoring run to maintain an eight-point lead with 7:09 remaining before halftime. A combined effort from Moorjani, Ashley Fritz, Bjorge, and Vanessa Bickford kept the Golden Eagles on the outside looking in on an 8-5 scoring effort to force a 38-27 lead into the halftime break.

Coming out of halftime, the Golden Eagles looked like they might flip the script and ended up climbing within four points with 6:09 to go in the quarter. With under six minutes left in the quarter, the Bulldogs proceeded with an 8-2 scoring run to get back to a 10-point helped by a six-point effort from Bjorge. From then on, UMD held the advantage for the duration to complete the match with a 76-54 final score.

As a unit, the team combined for their highest amount of field goals made (32) and gathered their most rebounds (46) of the season. Leading the rebound effort was Karly Jusczak with eight rebounds (three offensive). Overall, the team outshot the Golden Eagles with an accuracy of 45.1% (32-71) from the field to their 40.4% (23-57). They doubled Minnesota Crookston on points off turnovers with 16 and forced more points in the paint with 46 to their 34.

The Bulldogs head back on the road to face Minnesota State University Moorhead inside Nemzek Fieldhouse on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.