The University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball team is set to face Jamestown University and Northern State University for the second time this season during its next-to-last homestand of 2026. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. against Jamestown inside Romano Gymnasium tomorrow, with Northern State to follow on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

FOUR MATCHES REMAIN: With four games remaining, the Bulldogs stand atop the North Division with UMary trailing by one loss. Overall, UMD trails the undefeated Minnesota State University Mankato, which has an 18-0 record as the South Division leader.
 
The NSIC Basketball Tournament is a twelve-team tournament and will be seeded using overall conference win percentage. 
 
HEAD COACH MANDY PEARSON HITS 300 CAREER WINS AND 200 BULLDOG VICTORIES: With the victory over St. Cloud State, it marked head coach Mandy Pearson's 300^th career coaching victory, who has been at the helm of the program since 2015. Two weeks later, she marked her 200th UMD coaching victory with the win over Wayne State.
 
Since taking over the program in 2015, she has led the team to five NCAA II Tournament berths, three of which happened back-to-back, with one going all the way to the Championship in the 2022-23 season. Pearson has an overall record of 185-96 with 140-67 in conference play and three NSIC regular-season champion finishes.
 
10-0 NSIC START: Through the first ten matches, UMD dominated with ten straight wins with victories against Bemidji State (74-63), Minnesota Crookston (76-54), MSU Moorhead (73-69), Northern State (69-63), Jamestown (82-36), Minot State (83-69), UMary (80-65), Bemidji State (78-50), Sioux Falls (57-42), and SMSU (69-65). This came before falling narrowly to the only undefeated team in the NSIC, #2 Minnesota State Mankato, who is the favorite to win the NSIC South Division.
 
NSIC LEADERS: The team holds fifth in the conference for scoring offense (72.1), third for scoring margin (8.8), first in scoring defense (63.3 avg/g), fifth in field goal percentage (43.8%), third in opponent field goal percentage (39.7%), fifth in three-point field goals (7.7), second in opponent three-point field goals (28.9%), second in turnover margin (2.64), second in assist/turnover ratio (1.22), fourth in blocked shots (3.82 avg/g), and fifth in assists (15.18).
 
Individually, Myra Moorjani ranks third in three-point field goal percentage (37.6%) and fifth in three pointers per game (2.2). Lexi Karge also ranks fifth in blocked shots (1.1 avg/g).
 
FIRST NSIC PLAYER OF THE WEEK:  Claire Bjorge earned both her career's first NSIC North Division Player of the Week award and the team's first of the 2025-26 season. Bjorge earned the selection after scoring a career high and team-leading 25 points in the victory over the University of Minnesota Crookston (76-54). In that effort, she shot an impressive 66.7% (10-15) from the field. Throughout the week, she averaged 21 points and seven rebounds in two conference wins. In the second matchup, she added another 17 points in the 73-69 win over Minnesota State University Moorhead.
 
SIX AND BULLDOG: The Bulldogs shattered the No. 15 (WBCA) ranked Northern Michigan Wildcats in a stunning 85-70 victory on their home court. 
 
Entering the matchup, the Wildcats were on an unbeaten six-game win streak to start the season. That is, until the Bulldogs came to town. In another double-digit point game for four UMD athletes, Claire Bjorge led the way with 20 points, with Myra Moorjani and Lexi Karge following one point behind. Grace Counts put up an 11-point game for the top four UMD scorers to combine for 69 points of 85 total. Karge also led the Bulldogs with eight rebounds to keep the ball out of the Wildcats' hands. 
 
In all, UMD shot 56.9% in field goals, 56.3% from beyond the arc, and 85.7% from the free throw line. Overall, the team combined for season highs in points, field goals made, and free throws made.
 
LAST MATCH: UMD held off Minot State University's fourth-quarter surge for a 74-71 victory on the road Saturday.
 
Leading the way for the Bulldogs was Lexi Karge, matching her career high of 22 points. She hit 70% (7-10) from the field and 72.7% (8-11) from the free-throw line. Karge also blocked a shot and gathered five rebounds (three offensive).
 
Entering the match, Karge (5), Maria Counts (3), Grace Counts (3), and Claire Bjorge (2) combined for an unanswered 13 points in the first four minutes to seal a Bulldog lead for the duration. Minot found room for 13 points but couldn't overcome a 17-point effort by UMD to close out the first quarter.
 
The Bulldog scoring dominance continued in the second quarter with Myra Moorjani, Karge, Maria Counts, and Grace Counts combining for eight points to outscore the Beavers' six. With under five minutes remaining before the halftime break, the scoring remained even with six points on each side of the court, setting the score at 44-25.
 
After the break, Minot began to chip the lead down on an opening 19-12 scoring run in the first six minutes. The Beavers continued to finish the third quarter, hitting 76.9% from the field, bringing the Bulldog lead down to 61-51 by the end.
 
UMD held on to a 10-point lead with three minutes remaining, but a nine-point run by MSU brought the game within one at 72-71 with 60 seconds to go. Maria Counts scored the final two points of the game on a pair of free throws to seal the Bulldog victory 74-71.
 
Overall, the team hit 40.6% (26-64) from the field, 29% (9-31) beyond the arc, and 68.4% (13-19) from the free throw line. The Bulldogs dominated in points off turnover with 29 to the Beavers' 11.

A LOOK AT THE JIMMIES: This marks the second matchup with Jamestown since they joined the NSIC. The Jimmie offense is led by Allie Berns, who has scored 323 points to start the season (14.7 avg/g). She is averaging 5.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists while shooting a fourth NSIC best 52.3% from the field.
 
LAST TIME OUT AGAINST JAMESTOWN: UMD doubled the score over the University of Jamestown in their first historic Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) matchup in 82-36 fashion.
 
Leading the effort was Lexi Karge, who earned 16 points, four rebounds, and one steal with an 87.5% (7-8) from the field. Following close behind was Maria Counts with 11 points and an 80% (4-5) from the field and 75% (3-4) from the three-point line. Leading the defensive effort was Ashley Fritz with a team-leading five steals.
 
The first quarter saw the Bulldogs jump out to a colossal 22-6 lead off the efforts of Lexi Karge, Counts, Myra Moorjani, Vanessa Bickford, Drew Johnston, and Fritz. In that time, UMD was shooting 60% (9-15) from the field and 44.4% (4-9) from beyond the arc.
 
Jamestown continued to struggle under the offensive might of the Bulldogs as the team again doubled the scoring effort on an 18-9 run over the course of the quarter. This effort was headlined by Karge with eight points in the dominant 40-15 score before the halftime break.
 
With a  25-point lead, UMD continued to expand the gap in the third quarter as Moorjani, Counts, Fritz, Johnston, Bjorge, Lexi Karlen, Karge, and Karly Jusczak combined to outscore the Jimmies 26 to five to force a 66-20 lead into the final 10 minutes. The team eased up on defense, allowing the Jimmies to score 16 points, but offensively kept pace with their own 16 points to seal up the match 82-36.
 
Overall, the team shot 53.3% (32-60) from the field, 44.4% (12-27) from beyond the arc, and 66.7% (6-9) from the free throw line. The team outscored Jamestown in every category while outrebounding them by 46 to 28. Jusczak led the rebounding effort with seven total rebounds (three offensive).

MORE ON THE WOLVES: Since 2013, the Bulldogs have an 12-13 record with NSU, losing the last three matchups by a combined score of 231-172 before claiming a 69-63 victory earlier this season. 
 
NSU's top scorer is Izzy Moore, who has earned 427 points this season (17.8 avg/g). She shoots a 46.7% from the field while scoring 40% beyond the arc. 
 
LAST TIME OUT AGAINST NSU: UMD utilized a third-quarter scoring surge to overtake Northern State University 69-63 in their fourth Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) victory.
 
Leading the scoring effort for the Bulldogs was Myra Moorjani, who earned 14 points throughout the match, notably shooting 45.5% from the field and a perfect three-for-three in free throws. Three of her teammates followed with 11 points each, including Claire Bjorge, Maria Counts, and Lexi Karge.
 
Entering the first quarter, Counts sent two layups in for a 4-2 Bulldog lead in the first two minutes. However, Northern State broke past on a 16-9 scoring run to lead UMD 18-11 with two minutes left in the quarter. Moorjani would send a layup and free throw in to close the gap to four before time expired.
 
Moorjani picked up where she left off, passing to Counts for a three-point shot to get the Bulldogs within one point of the Wolves. This began the Wolves' 10-7 scoring run that narrowly held the Bulldogs off by three points or more, with the score settling at 28-24 with Northern State holding the advantage into the halftime break.
 
The third quarter opened with a quick five points from Northern State that pushed a 33-24 lead over UMD a minute in. The next four minutes saw the Bulldogs cut the lead to five on a 10-6 scoring run. It would be the three-minute mark where Bjorge would tie the game twice at 43-43 for the first time and 45-45 thirty seconds later. Four Karge free throws and a three-pointer from Moorjani earned the team a seven-point lead over the Wolves by the end of the quarter.
 
Entering the final quarter at 52-45, the Bulldogs held on to a six-point lead by the end, with Karge, Vanessa Bickford, Moorjani, Bjorge, Counts, and Ashley Fritz combining for 18 points to seal the match at 69-63.
 
All in all, the Bulldogs combined to shoot 41.8% (23-55) from the field, including a 69.23% (9-13) effort in the third quarter to overtake the Wolves. The team also shot 31.6% (6-19) beyond the arc and 85% (17-20) from the free throw line. UMD was able to overcome Northern State's 36 points in the paint while being out-rebounded 36 to 29. Karge led the rebounding effort for the Bulldogs with seven rebounds (six offensive).

NSIC REVIVES NORTH/SOUTH DIVISION: With the reformation of the North and South Divisions, the University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball team has been selected to finish third in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) North Division, with Lexi Karge selected as the Player to Watch for the Bulldogs.
 
In the NSIC's annual preseason poll, UMD has been selected to finish third in the North Division, receiving 37 points. They fall behind the University of Mary in second (42 points) and Minnesota State University Moorhead in first (43 points). Overall, the team ranks middle of the pack in eighth with 139 points to fall one point behind MSUM, University of Mary in sixth (152), St. Cloud State University in fifth (155), and Southwestern Minnesota State University in fourth (172). Concordia University St. Paul splits second with the University of Sioux Falls (202), with Minnesota State University Mankato out ahead (215). 
 
The North Division has seen the Bulldogs finish first in the last four seasons from 2019-2023. The season prior, they managed a second-place finish. The conference spent the last two seasons with a single division structure where the maroon and gold settled for a combined 22-22 record in NSIC competition.
 
Senior forward Lexi Karge has been tapped as the NSIC's Bulldog Player to Watch after averaging a team-second high 11 points per game last season. She was also second on the team in average of rebounds per game (6.1), blocked shots (21), field goals made (126), and free throws made (41).