The University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball team played the first of their final two regular season home games tonight, cashing in on a game winning shot from Maria Counts with 11 seconds left to defeat the Minnesota State University Moorhead Dragons 63-61 at Romano Gymnasium.

Final Score: UMD (63) - MSUM (61)

After falling behind 3-0 to open the night, UMD went on a 7-0 run with 6:55 left in the first quarter, culminating in a bucket from Karge, to take a 7-3 lead. The Bulldogs lost some of that lead, but still entered the quarter break with a 12-10 advantage. UMD relied on its three-point shooting in the period, knocking down two shots to account for six of its 12 points.

MSUM fought back to tie the game at 12-12 in the second quarter before the Bulldogs collected five unanswered points starting at the 8:21 mark in the second period, highlighted by a three from Counts, to take a 17-12 lead. The Dragons then answered back to take a 25-24 lead heading into halftime.

UMD came out of halftime rallying and had constructed a 34-32 lead before going on a 10-0 run, punctuated by a three from Johnston, to expand its lead further to 44-32 with 3:19 to go in the third. Before the conclusion of the third period, the Dragons had cut into that lead by four, but the Bulldogs still entered the fourth quarter with a 49-41 edge. UMD took advantage of five Dragon turnovers in the quarter, scoring 10 points off of takeaways.

The Bulldogs would get out-scored 20-12 throughout a majority of the fourth quarter as MSUM came back to tie the game at 61-61 with 0:36 left to go. As time winded down, Maria Counts went on to hit the game winning layup with 11 seconds to go as the Bulldog defense was able to shut down MSUM on their final possession. UMD fired away from deep in the quarter, knocking down two shots to account for six of its 14 points.

Bulldog Notes vs. MSUM

The Bulldogs had two players score in double figures, led by Lexi Karge, who had 17 points and eight rebounds. Maria Counts added 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals and Johanna Miller added eight points.

The UMD offense made hay from deep, pouring in eight threes on 19 attempts. Drew Johnston set a pair of new career highs tonight, hitting three shots from behind the arc for the Bulldogs to tally new career highs in points (9) and 3FG made (3).

The Bulldogs' defense held MSUM to only 35.8% shooting from the field, including 28.6% from beyond the arc. The Dragons did not have much luck cleaning up their misses on the offensive glass either, as they only finished with nine offensive rebounds and seven second chance points.

Looking Ahead

Bulldog women's basketball returns to Romano Gymnasium tomorrow night to take on the Northern State University Wolves for UMD's annual Senior Day. Tip-off against the Wolves is currently set for 5:30 PM.