UMC Women’s Basketball Beats Valley City State

Minnesota Crookston Women’s basketball team remains undefeated after topping Valley City State (NAIA) 79-64 in UMC’s home-opener and a non-conference game played at Lysaker Gymnasium in Crookston.

Valley City State scored the opening basket to take a 2-0 lead before Paige Weakley (Jr., Kearney, MO) made a three-pointer giving Minnesota Crookston a 3-2 lead. Kylie Post (Fr., Corcoran) scored a lay-up twenty seconds later pushing the Golden Eagles ahead 5-2 before Abby Guidinger (Soph., Waukesha, WI) connected from beyond the arc to cap off an 8-0 run that gave Minnesota Crookston an 8-2 lead with 8:09 left in the first quarter. The Vikings responded with a 5-point run pulling VCSU within 8-7 with 6:05 left in the quarter. A Bren Fox (Fr., Norwood Young America) lay-in stopped the Vikings scoring streak momentarily before a Kate Williams (Sr., Frementale, Austrailia) three-pointer sparked VCSU out to a 9-0 run with the visitors taking a 16-10 win with 3:08 left in the opening quarter. With under two minutes remaining in the quarter and UMC trailing 20-12, Caitlin Michaelis (Sr., Marshfield, WI) made a jump shot to pull the Golden Eagles within six before Isieoma Odor connected on a baseline jumper to pull Minnesota Crookston within 20-16 after one quarter of play. “I thought they had good balance and (Kate Williams) got on a nice little roll and we just didn’t communicate well enough,” said UMC head coach Mike Roysland. “They had some cruel screens that we missed assignments on just communication things led to them getting off to a decent start. They also knocked down some shots so you have to give them credit.”
Trailing 25-19 with 6:47 left in the first half, Kylie Post drove and finished inside cutting the Golden Eagles’ deficit down to 25-21. A Kylea Praska (Fr., Thief River Falls) finish at the rim on UMC’s subsequent possession closed the gap down to two before Isieoma Odor tied it with Minnesota Crookston’s third-straight lay-up at 25-25 with 5:30 remaining in the second quarter. Caitlin Michaelis converted from inside the paint with 3:52 left in the half regaining the lead for the Golden Eagles at 27-25. Valley City State countered by scoring seven of the next ten points to gain a 32-29 lead before Michaelis dribbled to the basket and took a bump while making a lay-up, earning a free-throw which she made with 1:13 left in the first half tying the score at 32-32. A midcourt steal by Kylie Post resulted in an uncontested lay-up at the other end regaining a 34-32 lead for the Golden Eagles, but a pair of free-throws by Mackenzie Huber (Jr., Clark, ND) tied the score at halftime 34-34. “I thought we had a bunch of good looks,” said Roysland. “I thought it was important that we closed out the first-half well.”
Paige Weakley opened the second-half scoring with a finish inside before Caitlin Michaelis added another lay-in pushing UMC’s lead to 38-34 before a Vikings’ three-pointer pulled Valley City State within one. Kylie Post answered with another shot at the rim putting the Golden Eagles ahead 40-37. Isieoma Odor earned a trip to the free-throw line on Minnesota Crookston’s next possession and made one of two expanding the hosts lead to 41-37 with 6:22 left in the third quarter. Caitlin Michaelis further grew the Golden Eagles lead with another three-pointer putting UMC up 44-39. Michaelis set up Odor inside on Minnesota Crookston’s next possession giving the Golden Eagles a 46-42 lead.  Paige Weakley buried a triple on the next Minnesota Crookston possession giving UMC a 49-44 lead with 4:14 left in the quarter. Another Michaelis three-pointer grew the Golden Eagles lead to 58-49 but an Alexis Bentz buzzer-beater cut the VCSU deficit down to 58-51 after three quarters.
Minnesota Crookston pulled away scoring the first 8 points of the fourth quarter including five-straight points scored by Guidinger to give the Golden Eagles a 66-51 lead with 7:30 to play. Minnesota Crookston continued to maintain a comfortable lead the rest of the night closing the game out with the final four points of the game securing the 79-64 win. “I thought we got a little bit comfortable,” said Roysland of the second-half improvement. “We got a couple defensive stops. The biggest thing is that we got to the rim. I thought that made a huge difference, that opened up the outside three. We hit enough of them. We were efficient enough.”

The Golden Eagles improve to 3-0 and return to the court on Saturday when Minnesota Crookston hosts Mayville State at 2 p.m. at Lysaker Gymnasium with the Riverview Health Pregame Show starting at 1:30 p.m. on KROX. Valley City State falls to 2-4.