MARY BURKE SETS SCHOOL RECORD FOR MADE 3’S IN A GAME AS UMC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL WINS FIRST NSIC GAME OF THE YEAR

The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) Golden Eagles Women’s Basketball team battled the Minot State Beavers on Saturday afternoon inside of Lysaker Gymnasium. The two teams met earlier this season with the Beavers picking up a 70-63 win. After hitting only 1 three-pointer last night, UMC would hit 19 against the Beavers, including 8 from Senior Mary Burke (Sr. Virginia, Minn.) who put herself in the record books for the most made three-pointers in a game in UMC history. The Golden Eagles used the hot shooting to earn their first NSIC victory of the season, a 91-65 final over the Beavers. “This one feels great,” said UMC Head Coach Mike Royslund. “We’ve had a lot go against us this year and have lost a lot of close games, but we needed this one and it felt good to perform like this tonight.”

FIRST-QUARTER –

UMC shot lights out to take an early lead. UMC jumped out to an 8-3 lead thanks to two threes from Abi Leach (Jr. Wyoming, Minn.). After six straight from Minot State, Alex Page (Fr. Grand Forks, N.D.) got in on the fun with a three-pointer of her own making it 11-9 UMC. The Golden Eagles continued to shoot lights out, as Page would hit two more threes, and after a few free throws from Jes Mertens (So. Devils Lake, N.D.), it was 23-17 with 1:39 left in the opening quarter. After an and one for the Beavers, UMC would counter with another three from Leach, and take a 26-20 lead into the second quarter. UMC shot 6-8 from the three-point range in the first quarter.

SECOND-QUARTER –

UMC continued to shoot the three-ball, and Mary Burke (Sr. Virginia, Minn.) got the scoring started in the second quarter with a three-pointer making it 29-20 Golden Eagles. Minot State continued to score as well, and after seven straight points, UMC finally put an end to the run with a Kylie Post (Sr. Corcoran, Minn.) layup making it 31-27 with 7:29 left until halftime. The ridiculous shooting from three-point range continued, as UMC hit three straight three-pointers on their next three possessions to take a 40-27 lead and force a Minot State timeout. “I thought our defense down low did a great job of taking away opportunities for them,” said UMC Head Coach Mike Royslund. “That led to our offense on the other end and that was big for us.” Leach cashed in two more and Burke hit the other one. UMC finally started to cool down a little bit, and the Beavers answered with five of the next seven points to make it 42-32 UMC. After a Burke layup, Minot State hit their fourth three-pointer of the game and cut the lead to single digits at 44-35. Each team would hit one more three before halftime and UMC would take a 47-38 lead into the halftime break. UMC hit 11 three-pointers in the first half which was the most in any half all season, and their 47 points were also a season-high in one half of basketball. Abi Leach (Jr. Wyoming, Minn.) led the way with 17 points, Mary Burke (Sr. Virginia, Minn.) chipped in 13, and Alex Page (Fr. Grand Forks, N.D.) scored 9.

THIRD-QUARTER –

UMC started the third quarter with a 7-0 run to build a 16-point lead. The run was highlighted by Leach’s sixth three-pointer of the game and scores from Emma Carpenter (Jr. Eagan, Minn.) and Bren Fox (Jr. Norwood Young America, Minn.). Minot State countered with a 7-0 run of their own, and the score was 54-45 with 5:24 left in the third quarter. Mertens would put an end to the Beavers run with a three, and after a layup from each team, it was 59-47 Golden Eagles. From there it became the Mary Burke show the rest of the day. Burke would add another three-pointer in the third quarter, and UMC would go on a 10-4 scoring run to take a 69-51 lead into the final ten minutes of play.

FOURTH-QUARTER –

Burke started the final quarter with another three, and after 4 points from Fox, the Golden Eagles stretched their lead to 76-53. UMC would go on to win the game 91-65, as Minot State could never recover. However, the real story became about Mary Burke. After she hit another three with 4:14 left in the game, she needed one more to break the school record for most three-pointers in a game. The next time down the floor, Post found her on a great pass, and Burke would knock down her eighth three of the game etching herself in the UMC record books. “It definitely feels so good,” said Burke. “I was feeling it in warmups and my teammates were getting me the ball and I was able to knock down some shots today.” UMC as a team hit 19 three-pointers after only hitting 1 last night in the overtime loss to the University of Mary. “I thought the girls did a great job of finding the open player and we did a really good job of knocking down shots,” said UMC Head Coach Mike Royslund. “We needed a game like this and I’m just so proud of all the girls, and to see a Senior like Mary break a record like that is pretty incredible.”

UMC improves to 2-17 on the season and 1-12 in the NSIC. They will have two more conference games this upcoming weekend when they take on the Minnesota State University of Moorhead on Friday and Northern State University on Saturday. Minot State drops to 8-14 overall and 6-9 in the NSIC.