The University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball team heads on the road to face Minnesota State University Mankato in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament first round on Friday. Tipoff is set for 5:00 p.m. inside the Taylor Center.
 
BULLDOGS AND THE NATIONAL TOURNAMENT: UMD enters the tournament as No. 8 seed in the NCAA Central Region after holding a No. 7 ranking in the final week of the NCAA Central Regional rankings. They completed the season with a 20-8 overall record, and this entry marks the program's 16th tournament appearance and sixth under head coach Mandy Pearson.
 
Under Pearson's leadership, the Bulldogs have reached the NCAA Tournament six times with one Championship entry in the 2022-23 season. She holds a 3-4 record in the first round (not including the canceled 2019-20 season).
 
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 NSIC 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).
 
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 NSIC SEMIFINALS: UMD faltered against Concordia University St. Paul in the NSIC Tournament Semifinal round on Monday in 81-65 fashion inside the Sanford Pentagon.
 
A season-high, colossal 25-point effort from senior Myra Moorjani led the scoring effort for UMD. Across the game, she hit 66.7% (6-9) from the field, 50% (1-2) beyond the arc, and 92.3% (12-13) from the free throw line.
 
"Myra is always determined," said head coach Mandy Pearson. "And the thing that Myra has done this season, she's found a way to make her determination almost always go in a positive way."
 
Throughout the first two quarters, Moorjani was hitting 100% of shots across the court, including 3-3 from the field, 1-1 beyond the arc, and 4-4 from the free throw line.
 
"She's done a great job of finding that determination in a lot of games this season," said Pearson. "She plays at her pace, where she can be successful, and where she can help this team."
 
Entering the match, UMD fell behind 14-4 in the first five minutes as Moorjani and Claire Bjorge were the only ones score. CSP then continued a steady scoring pace to hold a 24-13 advantage by the end of the first quarter.
 
The Golden Bears continued to hold onto the lead in the second quarter as the first five minutes saw Moorjani (5), Lexi Karge (4), and Maria Counts (3) combine for a 12-8 scoring run to bring the Bulldogs within seven at 32-25. This was the closest UMD would get before halftime as CSP held on to a 10-point advantage at halftime.
 
With the score at 43-33, UMD cut the lead down all the way to six points by the 5:19 mark. The Golden Bears remained steady on a 10-9 scoring run to close out the third quarter at 60-53 with Ashley Fritz (5), Karly Jusczak (2), and Karge (2) keeping pace.
 
The fourth quarter saw the Bulldogs finally get within two points on an opening 5-0 run between Counts three-pointer and Moorjani's jumper. The 60-58 score was the closest UMD would come to CSP as they broke out to a 21-7 scoring run to eliminate the Bulldogs at 81-65.
 
Overall, UMD hit 40.4% (19-47) from the field, 39.1% (9-23) beyond the arc, and 94.7% from the free throw line. The Bulldogs were out-rebounded by the Golden Bears 33-20, losing nine rebounds on defense to CSP, and allowed 46 points in the paint.
 
This group of Bulldogs overcame being selected to finish third in the NSIC North Division, won the title outright, and then earned another NSIC Tournament Quarterfinal victory.
 
"I've been coaching for 20 years," said Pearson. "This was maybe the most progress I've seen from one year to another. This group found each other, gelled, and cared."
 
SCOUTING THE NO. 1 SEEDED MAVERICKS:  Natalie Bremer leads MSU as an NSIC All-Conference First Team member and the NSIC's Outstanding Senior of the Year. She is currently averaging 21.9 points, 2.6 steals, and 4.7 rebounds per game. She is currently shooting 49.5% (258-521) from the field, 37.0% (37-100) from the three-point line, and 88.2% (127-144) from the free-throw line.
 
The team leads the nation in scoring offense with 92.1 average points per game and are the second best in forcing turnovers (32.7 per game) and scoring margin (24.9).
 
EARLIER AGAINST MSU: UMD was dealt its first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) loss after narrowly falling  81-78 against the No. 2 (WBCA) Minnesota State University Mankato.
 
Leading the way for the Bulldogs was Myra Moorjani with her second over 20-point game this season. She totaled 21 points, two steals, one block, five assists, and two rebounds while shooting 50% (8-16) from the field and 45.5% (5-11) beyond the arc. Following close behind with double-digit points were Vanessa Bickford (16), Lexi Karge (14), and Claire Bjorge (14).
 
The first quarter saw MSU jump out ahead of UMD on a 13-2 scoring run that overpowered Grace Counts' lone layup in the first three minutes. In the next three minutes, Bickford, Counts, and Fritz combined to chip the lead down to 15-9 after scoring seven points. The Bulldogs continued to trail as the Mavericks went on a  9-7 scoring run to end the quarter at 24-16.
 
The lead would hold until the 6:23 mark in the second quarter when a Moorjani three-pointer put the Bulldogs within two at 27-25. The final five minutes of the quarter did not see the lead change as the Bulldogs remained on the lower end of a 17-14 scoring run by the Mavericks to go into the halftime break trailing 44-39.
 
Coming out of halftime, UMD dropped further behind as MSU began a 22-8 run over the course of the period to bring a 66-47 lead over the Bulldogs into the final quarter. The fourth quarter saw Moorjani, Karge, Bjorge, and Bickford combine for a 31-point scoring run to overpower the Mavericks' 13 points, cutting the lead to 79-78 with 49 seconds remaining. The final seconds had MSU score two free throws to down the Bulldogs 81-78.
 
Overall, the Bulldogs soared in the fourth quarter, hitting 52.38% (11-21) from the field, 66.67% (4-6) beyond the arc, and 83.33% (5-6) from the free throw line. The team faltered in total rebounds, gathering 35 compared to MSU's 40. Leading the rebounding effort was Karge with nine rebounds (three offensive).