UMC Women’s Basketball falls to BSU in OT

The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Women’s basketball came back from as far down as 12 to force overtime, but were unable to score in the extra time, and the Bemidji State Beavers were able to pull away for an 86-76 victory on Saturday at Lysaker Gymnasium.

FIRST QUARTER –
Both teams recorded a bucket in the first minute of the game, and then from there offense became very difficult to come by. The Beavers got the upper hand, getting a three-pointer from Ashlynne Guenther with 8:45 left. The next points were scored with 6:43 left, as another BSU triple made it 8-2. At 10-2, UMC got their first points in almost 5 minutes, as a Tayden Hanks (Jr, Los Lunas, NM) layup cut the gap to 10-4. After BSU extended the gap to 12-4, UMC went on an 8-0 run, with the help of two Riley Jenkins (Jr, Galesburg, IL) buckets to tie the game at 12. UMC then got the last laugh in the quarter, as a bucket from Anna Westby (Fr, Eveleth) and a 3-pointer from Hope Dudycha (Jr, Austin) catapulted the Golden Eagles to a 17-12 lead at the end of the quarter.

SECOND QUARTER –
The second quarter was the complete opposite of the first quarter. BSU came out quickly to tie the game at 19, and after UMC and BSU exchanged three pointers to tie the game at 22, the game flipped on its head for the Golden Eagles. BSU scored 5 in a row before Hanks and Rayna Klejeski (Jr, Barnum) made buckets to cut the gap to 1. The Beavers then couldn’t miss for the final 3:16 of the quarter; threes were raining in, from Gabrielle Fineday, Tieryn Plasch and Evyn Eppinga, and the Golden Eagles had few answers to stop it. The Beavers ended the quarter on a 14-4 run, capped off by a three-pointer from Aubrey Heyer in the final seconds, giving BSU a 41-30 lead at the half.

THIRD QUARTER –
UMC came out hot to start the 3rd quarter, going on an 8-3 run with the help of an Anna Westby 3-pointer, which cut the lead down to 44-38. Westby then scored two more layups, scoring 7 consecutive UMC points, which helped cut the lead down to 3 at 45-42. From there, the game went back and forth, with both teams getting brief scoring runs. The story for UMC in the third quarter was fouls committed, as by the end of the quarter, Hanks, Westby, and Klejeski all had 4 personal fouls. On top of this, Emma Miller (Sr, Albertville) was scoreless in the first half, and only recorded 1 point in the 3rd quarter. Hope Dudycha was able to step up, however, as she hit two three-pointers in the quarter, helping her lead all UMC scorers with 14 at the stage. Ultimately, BSU was able to take a 62-54 lead into the fourth quarter.

FOURTH QUARTER –
After BSU scored the first bucket of the quarter, UMC responded with a 7-0 run, capped off by the first bucket of the afternoon for Emma Miller, cutting BSU’s lead down to 3 at 64-61. From there, both teams alternated points, with BSU extending the lead to 5 and UMC cutting the lead to 3, and that carried on until a Tayden Hanks 3-pointer cut the BSU lead to 2 at 72-70. With 3:40 left, BSU made a layup to go up 4, but Emma Miller responded with a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 1. Then, with 1:05 left, Anna Westby hit a bucket to put UMC in front at 75-74. However, after Westby hit a free throw with 20 seconds left, she would then commit her 5th foul, and Kassandra Caron would hit both free throws, sending the game to overtime with the score tied at 76.

OVERTIME –
As overtime started, the depth at the post for UMC became even thinner. Rayna Klejeski committed her 5th foul of the game, and from there, BSU was able to take over the game. Aubrey Heyer hit a 3-pointer on their first possession, Kassandra Caron hit two free throws to put the Beavers up 5, and after that, the defense shut down the Golden Eagles. UMC was 0-4 from the field and the foul line in OT, and they also committed 2 turnovers, and the Beavers were able to pull away for an 86-76 win.

Crookston falls to 1-7 on the season, 0-3 in the NSIC and will travel to Bismarck, North Dakota on Thursday to take on the University of Mary. Bemidji State is now 5-2, 2-1 in the NSIC.

Halle WInjum

Riley Jenkins

Hope Dudycha

Rayna Klejeski

Emma Miller

Tayden Hanks

Emma Pierson

Halle Winjum

Halle WInjum

Riley Jenkins

Hope Dudycha

Rayna Klejeski

Emma Miller

Tayden Hanks

Emma Pierson

Halle Winjum

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