The University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball team will face the No. 2-seeded Concordia University St. Paul in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament third round on Monday. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. inside the Taylor Center.
 
BULLDOGS AND THE NATIONAL TOURNAMENT: UMD enters the tournament as the 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 now holds a 3-2 record in the first round (not including the canceled 2019-20 season). In second-round appearances, the Bulldogs have now advanced twice under Pearson; the only other time was the 2022-23 season, where the Bulldogs went all the way to the championship round. This marks the second time Pearson and the Bulldogs have entered the third round; the last time was in 2022-23, where they narrowly bested Missouri Southern State University 77-76.
 
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 NCAA SECOND ROUND: As the No. 8 seed, UMD forced an 81-48 victory over the No. 4-seeded University of Central Missouri in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament second round.
 
The Bulldog defense found success holding the Jennies to 29.5% (18-61) from the field, 16.7% (3-18) from beyond the arc, and 64.3% (9-14) from the free throw line. Leading the way with double-digit points was Lexi Karge (16), Claire Bjorge (15), Myra Moorjani (14), and Ashley Fritz (10). Moorjani also led the team with three steals, while Karge led the team with three blocks.
 
Central Missouri was only able to tie the game in the opening two minutes after Bjorge opened the game with a quick layup 21 seconds in. The lead was gained again by Bjorge at the 7:16 mark, and from then on, the Bulldogs would only expand the lead. To end the first quarter, a combined effort from Bjorge, Vanessa Bickford, Karge, Fritz, Moorjani, Karly Jusczak, and Maria Counts forced a colossal 27-7 lead over the Jennies.
 
The Bulldogs continued the trend in the next quarter as Bickford, Karge, Moorjani, and Jusczak combined for a 47-22 lead, a 25-point scoring gap by the halftime break. UMD would then close the remainder of the game, holding an over 30-point scoring margin in one of the team's highest in NCAA postseason competition.
 
Overall, the team hit 54.5 % (36-66) from the field, 35.3% (6-17) beyond the arc, and 75% (3-4) from the free throw line to advance to head coach Mandy Pearson's second third-round appearance since taking over in the 2015-16 season. The last time the Bulldogs were in the third round was the 2022-23 season, where they closed up competition in the NCAA Finals.
 
EARLIER AGAINST CSP: 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. 2 SEEDED GOLDEN BEARS: This will mark the Bulldogs third meeting this season with Concordia-St. Paul. Leading the CSP offense is four-time NSIC South Division Player of the Week, Lydia Haack, who is averaging 17.3 points, 2.3 steals, 6.0 assists, and 5.2 rebounds. She is currently shooting 46% from the field, 39.2% beyond the arc, and 79.7% from the free-throw line.