The University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball team is set to face Concordia University St. Paul in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Semifinals Monday. Tipoff is set for 1:30 p.m. inside the Sanford Pentagon.

NSIC NORTH DIVISION CHAMPIONS: With a 17-5 record, the Bulldogs clinched the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) North Division title. It marks the program's fifth title and first since the 2022-23 season.
 
CONTINUED QUARTERFINAL EXCELLENCE: The last time the Bulldogs were in the NSIC Tournament Quarterfinals was the 2023-24 season, where they overcame Concordia University St. Paul 66-57. Coach Pearson and the Bulldogs have not lost a quarterfinal match since the 2016-17 season, and now own a 7-0 quarterfinal record since then (2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, and now 2025-26).
 
BULLDOGS AND THE SEMIFINALS: The last time the Bulldogs reached the semifinal round was in the 2023-24 season, where they fell 83-75 to the University of Mary. Their last win in the semifinal round was in the 2022-23 season, where they overcame Augustana University in 76-59 fashion and went on to win the conference title and become national title runner-ups. Since Mandy Pearson took over the Bulldogs, they have a 5-1 record in the semifinal round (2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2022-23).
 
ALL-CONFERENCE CLUB: Myra Moorjani, Claire Bjorge, and Lexi Karge of the University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball team have been selected to the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) All-Conference teams.
 
Senior guard from Eden Prairie, Minn., Moorjani earned her first NSIC All-Conference First Team selection. Currently, she is on track to average 13.6 points, 1.4 steals, 3.1 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per game. She holds or ties multiple of the team's season individual game-highs in field goal attempts (18), three-point field goals made (5), three-point field goal attempts (11), free throws made (8), and assists (10). Overall, she has 339 points, 34 steals, eight blocks, 76 assists, and 87 rebounds ahead of competition in the NSIC Tournament Quarterfinals.
 
Bjorge, a sophomore shooting guard and product of De Pere, Wis., earns her first NSIC All-Conference Second Team selection. Ahead of the NSIC Tournament Quarterfinals, she is averaging 13 points, 1.8 steals, 3.1 assists, and 3.3 rebounds per game. She currently holds the team's season individual game-highs in points (25), field goals made (10), and steals (7). At the end of the regular season, she has 337 points, 47 steals, nine blocks, 80 assists, and 85 rebounds.
 
Senior forward from Mankato, Minn., Karge earned her first NSIC All-Conference Second Team selection. Currently, she is on pace to average 11.2 points, 1.1 blocks, and 5 .3 rebounds per game. She is the team's individual single-game leader in free throw attempts (11) and blocked shots (4) this season. Ahead of the Quarterfinal round this weekend, she has 290 points, 11 steals, 28 blocks, 23 assists, and 139 rebounds. She also hit the 1,000-career points milestone this season.
 
KARGE EARNS 1,000 CAREER POINTS: Senior forward Lexi Karge joined the 1,000 career points club off a five-point effort against the University of Minnesota Crookston. She is the first Bulldog to hit that mark since Brooke Olson in the 2020-21 season.
 
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.
 
NSIC LEADERS (As of 2/28): The team holds fourth in the conference for scoring offense (72.4), third for scoring margin (10.0), first in scoring defense (62.4 avg/g), second in field goal percentage (44.4%), third in opponent field goal percentage (39.9%), fifth in three-point field goals (7.6), third in opponent three-point field goals (29.2%), second in turnover margin (2.92), second in assist/turnover ratio (1.18), fifth in blocked shots (3.81 avg/g), and fifth in assists (15.00).
 
Individually, Myra Moorjani ranks third in three-point field goal percentage (38%) and second in three pointers per game (2.3). 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.
 
EARLIER IN THE QUARTERFINALS: UMD surged after halftime for a 63-45 tilt over Winona State University in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Tournament Quarterfinals.
 
"That was a really tough game," said head coach Mandy Pearson. "I thought Winona came out and had a really good game plan, made some things difficult for us offensively, and kept us from getting into a kind of rhythm we were looking for."
 
Entering the first quarter, both teams were silent on the opening possessions, but a three-pointer from Maria Counts broke the 90-second stalemate to start an 8-2 run for the Bulldogs. A Grace Counts three-pointer set the lead at 11-2 with 4:50 remaining. The Warriors would rally a 7-2 scoring run to end the quarter as Claire Bjorge was the only scorer for UMD.
 
Opening the second quarter, UMD flipped the script, going on their own 7-2 scoring run off the effort of Ashley Fritz (3), Bjorge (2), and Lexi Karge (2) to lead 20-11 after three minutes. Winona State didn't let up and found room to put up 13 points over the next six minutes to chip the Bulldog lead down to 27-24 heading into halftime.
 
After halftime, the Warriors tied the game at 29-29 four minutes in, with Karge's lone layup the only scoring for the Bulldogs.
 
"We focused on those first five minutes, and then once you're done with that, focus on the next five minutes," said Pearson. "I think breaking it down helped us to stay focused throughout the entire second half."
 
After the first five minutes of the third quarter, the Bulldogs began to rattle a larger and larger lead, first pushing a determined 39-34 lead to end the quarter. It was Vanessa Bickford (6), Karge (4), and Bjorge (2) who expanded the lead with 12 combined points to open the fourth quarter and force a 51-39 lead by the 6:21 mark.  From then on, Karly Jusczak (5), Maria Counts (4), and Fritz (3) forced a 63-45 final score.
 
"Winona has some players that can just flat-out score," said Pearson. "The number one key was going to be individual defense and figuring out ways to rebound so that we could finish the possession with the ball in our hands."
 
The Bulldogs' fourth quarter effort saw the team hit 66.7% (10-15) from the field, 37% (10-27) beyond the arc, 60% (3-5) from the free-throw line while holding the Warriors to 29.4% (5-17) from the field and 20% (1-5) beyond the arc.
 
Leading the scoring effort was Bjorge (11), Karge (10), and Jusczak (10), each hitting double-digits. Bjorge and Myra Moorjani led the defensive effort with two steals each.
 
SCOUTING THE BEARS: Leading the CSP offense is four-time NSIC South Division Player of the Week, Lydia Haack, who is averaging 17.9 points, 2.3 steals, 6.1 assists, and 5.3 rebounds. She is currently shooting 47% from the field, 40% beyond the arc, and 81.1% from the free-throw line.
 
EARLIER AGAINST CSP: UMD suffered its second loss in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) competition by Concordia University St. Paul in 71-63 fashion inside Romano Gymnasium.
 
Leading the scoring effort for the Bulldogs was Myra Moorjani with 12 points. She also tallied one block, one steal, seven assists, and two rebounds.
 
Entering the match, the Bulldogs found themselves down 5-0 in the first 90 seconds. Grace Counts (4), Maria Counts (3), and Moorjani (2) combined for a nine-point run to chip back within two at 11-9 with 4:36 to go. The Bears went on an 8-6 scoring run to hold off the Bulldogs at 19-15 into the second quarter.
 
The first five minutes saw CSP continue to hold off UMD on a 10-8 scoring run, increasing the lead to 29-23. The Bulldogs continued to stay with the Bears on a 5-5 scoring run, helped by a final three-pointer by Counts to remain at 34-28 into the halftime break.
 
CSP opened the third quarter with a 5-2 run in the first five minutes to put UMD down 39-30. The Bulldogs again remained even with the Bears, closing the period on an 8-8 scoring run to be held behind 47-38 into the final 10 minutes.
 
Lexi Karge scored four points in the first two minutes of the final quarter to chip down the lead to 49-42. The Bears turn the scoring back around on a 7-2 run that set the Bulldogs behind at 56-44 with 4:57 remaining. The Bulldogs remained outside of striking distance of the lead for the remainder, falling 71-63.
 
Overall, UMD shot 34% (24-70) from the field, 16% (4-25) beyond the arc, and 100% (11-11) from the free throw line. The Bulldogs narrowly won the total rebounding battle with 41 to the Bears' 40. Counts and Karly Jusczak led the team individually with seven rebounds each.