The University of Minnesota Duluth women's basketball team continues their Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) postseason tournament run, this time with a matchup against the Concordia St. Paul Golden Bears in the quarterfinal round.

MATCHUP INFORMATION

Sunday, March 3

7:00 PM vs. Concordia St. Paul

Watch Live: https://www.midcosportsplus.com/

Live Stats: https://northernsun.org/sidearmstats/wbball/summary

THE SEASON SO FAR

The Bulldogs ended their regular season last week with a narrow one point win over the St. Cloud State University Huskies. UMD finished with a 17-9 overall record and a 14-8 conference record, securing them a seventh place spot in the standings heading into the tournament.

RANKINGS, RANKINGS, RANKINGS

UMD currently remains outside of the most recent WBCA national rankings, last being ranked during the week of Dec. 12. MSU Mankato resides as the NSIC's only representative in the rankings, slotting in at the No.21 themselves. The Bulldogs still hold the number one ranked field goal percentage (43.8%) in the conference, and remain top three in the conference in blocks per game (4.3).

SCOUTING REPORT - CONCORDIA 

The Concordia St. Paul Golden Bears ended  their regular season with a 57-51 win over the St. Cloud State University Huskies. They finished with a 20-7 overall record and a 16-6 conference record, good enough for the third seed heading into the tournament. The Bulldogs are 6-6 against the Golden Bears since 2014, most recently losing to them 60-69 on the road earlier this season.

BULLDOG STARTING FIVE

The mix of veteran presence and young athleticism in the Bulldog starting five (consisting of Ella Gilbertson, Madelyn Granica, Myra Moorjani, Lexi Karge, and Taytum Rhoades) continues to put up strong performances on both sides of the ball. The core group has tallied 1272 points, 599 rebounds, and 265 assists just this season so far.   

PRESEASON PLAYER TO WATCH - GILBERTSON

Senior guard/forward Ella Gilbertson was voted as UMD's NSIC Preseason Player to Watch back in October prior to the beginning of the season. Gilbertson so far has tallied 285 total points this season with a 10.56 pts/game average, while also collecting 166 rebounds, 53 assists, 27 steals, and 2 blocks. 

ALL RHOADES LEAD TO TAYTUM

Graduate student guard Taytum Rhoades continues to dominate on the court. The St. Paul native currently leads the team in points (319) this season with a 12.0 pts/game average. Rhoades started in all 27 games for the Bulldogs this season, pacing the team in minutes per game with 31.4. She tops the team charts with the most field goal attempts (302), three point attempts (84), and free throw attempts (80), while also leading the team in assists (124), steals (40), and blocks (37). Rhoades also approaches the prestigious 1000 career point milestone, currently sitting at 935 career points.

GET IT TO GRANICA

Graduate student guard/forward Madelyn Granica has had a strong final season with the Bulldogs as well. Starting in all 27 games for UMD, Granica holds the highest field goal percentage (.542) out of the regular starting five. She has scored 270 points with a 10.0 pts/game average throughout the year while also collecting 129 rebounds, 27 assists, 18 steals, and 14 blocks.

ALL CONFERENCE SUPERSTARS

Graduate student guard Taytum Rhoades and senior guard/forward Ella Gilbertson both earned themselves NSIC all conference team nominations on Thursday, this being their first all conference nominations in both player's careers. Rhoades was voted to the NSIC all conference first team and currently leads the Bulldogs in four statistical categories this season, including total points (319). Gilbertson was voted to the NSIC all conference second team and currently leads the Bulldogs in rebounds (166) this season.