sports

GOLDEN EAGLES WOMEN’S BASKETBALL COMES UP SHORT 59-55 AGAINST UMARY

January 29, 2021

The University of Mary Marauders used a 13-2 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to build an insurmountable lead in a 59-55 win over the University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles Women’s Basketball team in an NSIC game played at Lysaker Gym.

1st Half
The Marauders jumped out to a 7-2 lead over the first 2:16 of the game capped by a three from Megan Volt. Neither team scored in their possession before a layup by Mary Burke with 5:51 left in the first quarter sparked a 14-2 run over the next 5:14 to make it 16-9 in favor of the Golden Eagles. The Marauders would get one final possession and Lexie Schneider scored the left block to make it 16-11 UMC at the break.

In the second quarter, the Marauders would get four of the first six field goals and closed to within a point at 21-20with 5:03 to play. The Golden Eagles would get back to back baskets from Bren Fox and Kylie Post, who also added a free throw to build their lead back to six at 26-20 with 4:11 to play. The Marauders would score seven of the final nine points in the half capped off by a shot low in the paint by Reese Wishart that beat the buzzer to make the score 28-27 in favor of UMC at the half. The Golden Eagles scored in spurts throughout the first half shooting 44 percent. “I thought we had a lot of opportunities in this game,” said Golden Eagles Coach Mike Roysland. “We had a lot of opportunities just didn’t capitalize them. We’ve been defending well we just haven’t been generating enough offense. I think what it came down to for us, was we had some costly turnovers and layup attempts missed at the rim. We have to continue to fight and battle all night long.”

2nd Half
Lauren Rotunda would give the Marauders the lead in the third quarter, their first since the 2:33 mark of the first quarter, at 31-30 with 8:30 to play in the third quarter. After a three by Jes Mertens put the Golden Eagles back in front 33-30, the Marauders would go on a 9-0 run to take a 40-34 lead with 5:02 to play. The Golden Eagles would answer with their own 8-0 run capped by a pair of free throws with 3:03 to play in the quarter to reclaim the lead 42-40. It would be the last time the Golden Eagles led as Lauren Rotunda would tie the game with 2:12 to go and neither team scored before the end of the period.

The Marauders would turn Rotunda’s final bucket of the third quarter into the start of the decisive run of the game as Schneider scored the first four points of the final quarter. Following a basket from Julia Peplinski, the Marauders would add seven more including a three from the top of the key by Rotunda to give them a 13-2 run and their largest lead of the game at 53-44 with 5:57 to play. The Golden Eagles would claw back to within two twice but Rotunda iced the game with a pair of free throws to make it 59-55 with 3 seconds to play. “They had the – one – run of the game,” said Roysland. “We had some opportunities that it could’ve been us but tonight it was them. We did a nice job of getting back but ran out of clock. The take away is to keep battling, get more efficient and capitalize at the rim. We have to stay the course and see if we can’t get better in 22 hours here tomorrow.”

The Golden Eagles fall to 2-7 overall, 2-5 in the NSIC. The Marauders improve to 2-5 both overall and in conference play. The same two teams will meet Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Lysaker Gym in a game that can be heard on KROX beginning with the RiverView Health pregame show at 1 p.m.