The University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball team stays alive at the Sanford Pentagon, completing the 66-57 comeback victory over the Concordia St. Paul Golden Bears in the quarterfinal round of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) tournament. 

Halftime: UMD (25) - CSP (33)

The Bulldogs started off the game hot, scoring the first two buckets of the night with back to back layups from Karge and Granica. The Golden Bears would respond quickly on the next possession with a successful free throw starting them off on a 6-0 scoring run. UMD would break up the momentum with a two point shot of their own before CSP would add another four to their total, going up 10-6 through the first five minutes. The Bulldogs closed the gap with a quick layup and a successful trip to the line to close the deficit to just two points. However, seven unanswered points for the Golden Bears would allow them to go 9-2 in scoring over the final three minutes of the first quarter.

UMD would come out of the team huddle with determination, swinging the momentum back in their favor to go 8-4 in scoring over the five minutes of the second quarter. The Bulldogs would make an effort to push the momentum, but CSP would stay right there with them with both teams going 4-4 in scoring down to the final three minutes. Despite an Olson free throw seemingly driving them in the right direction, the Golden Bears would put together four unanswered to end the half with an eight point lead. 

The Bulldogs ended the first half shooting 11-35 (31.4%) from the field and 3-4 (75%) from the line. UMD would find success from the interior on their offensive efforts, edging out a slight lead in points in the paint with 22, and would be able to force double the amount of turnovers out of CSP through the opening half. However, the Bulldogs would struggle to collect the boards, finding themselves at -8 in the rebound count, and run into foul trouble through the opening 20 minutes after collecting 10 personal fouls.

Final Score: UMD (66) - CSP (57) 

UMD came out of the gates sprinting in the second half with a Moorjani layup, followed by five unanswered points over the first three and a half minutes. A three point shot from CSP would break up the Bulldog streak, but would be quickly answered by four points on back to back short range shots from Gilbertson. The Bulldogs would go 5-6 in scoring with CSP to finish the third quarter with the help of Johnson who put up all five of those points.

Back to back two point shots from Moorjani followed by a successful two point trip to the line for Johnson would give UMD their first lead since the opening quarter of tonight's matchup. The energy would pick up as the Bulldogs would go on to hit three shots from three point range on three consecutive possessions, getting themselves back to an eight point lead with four minutes left. As time winded down, the Golden Bears would force the Bulldogs to the line in order to regain possession of the ball. Though the Bulldogs held strong, going 10-10 on free throws through the final two minutes to complete the comeback win and stay alive in the tournament.

UMD ended the night shooting 23-62 (37.1%) from the field, 3-14 (21.4%) from three point range, 17-20 (85%) from the line. The Bulldogs really made an effort to protect the ball, only having seven turnovers compared to CSP's 13 throughout the night, and finding success through their bench getting 16 points from the bench compared to the Golden Bears' two.

"I'm really proud of the adjustments that they were able to make in the second half to get some good looks, to slow down, to work together a little bit better than we did in the first half to score" - Head Coach Mandy Pearson

Top Performers

Senior guard / forward Ella Gilbertson came out as the Player of the Game tonight, shooting 5-15 (33.3%) from the field and 8-8 from the line to lead the game with 18 points. Graduate student Taytum Rhoades put up a quiet six points tonight but shined everywhere else, leading the team with six rebounds, four assists, and a block.

Looking Ahead

Women's Basketball looks to face the University of Mary tomorrow night in the NSIC tournament semifinal round. The matchup looks to tip off from the Sanford Center at 7:00 PM.