The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) Women’s basketball team dropped its tenth straight game to conclude the regular season with a 77-68 loss to St. Cloud State in an NSIC game played at Halenbeck Hall in St. Cloud.
After St. Cloud State opened the games scoring with a lay-up, Minnesota Crookston’s Isieoma Odor (R-Sr., Bloomington) scored four-straight points to give the Golden Eagles a 4-2 lead. The Huskies countered with a 10-0 run to take a 12-4 lead before Bren Fox (Fr., Norwood Young America) knocked down a mid-range jumper pulling the visitors within 12-6. Paige Cornale (Fr., Oak Creek, WI) made a jump shot followed by a three-pointer from Kylie Post (Fr., Corcoran) bringing Minnesota Crookston within 12-11. The run continued with four more points from Odor and Fox giving UMC a 15-12 lead with 2:18 to play in the quarter. Following an SCSU three-pointer, Kylie Post made a three-pointer just before the buzzer to closed the quarter as Minnesota Crookston took an 18-15 lead to close the opening ten minutes.
The two teams traded baskets to open the second quarter before Isieoma Odor knocked down a corner three-pointer giving UMC a 24-18 lead with 6:13 to play in the first half. St. Cloud State answered with an 11-0 run to take a 29-24 lead before Bren Fox made her first three-point attempt of the season from the top of the key cutting UMC’s deficit down to 29-27. Paige Weakley (Jr., Kearney, MO) made a three-pointer trimming SCSU’s lead down to one, with another three-pointer from Weakley with 48-seconds to play in the second quarter giving Minnesota Crookston a 35-33 lead. Bren Fox made a jump shot to close the first half giving the Golden Eagles a 37-35 halftime lead. “We kind of had (the offense) going inside out,” explained UMC head coach Mike Roysland. “Kylie Post was making some really nice decisions. It all stems with needing a guard to attack the rim like that and make a decision with it. She found shooters and shooters made shots. Obviously, Bren played well. She made that shot at the top of the key which I think gave her a lot of confidence.”
St. Cloud State opened the second half with four-straight points before Isieoma Odor made a pair of free-throws tying the game at 39-39. A pair of Huskies’ three-pointers was split by a lay-up from Odor as SCSU’s lead grew to 45-41. A Kylie Post lay-up with 7:14 to play in the quarter trimmed UMC’s deficit down to 47-43, but the Huskies scored eight-straight points to claim a 53-43 lead. St. Cloud State closed out the third quarter with two-straight baskets to preserve a 59-49 lead heading into the final ten minutes of the regular season.
St. Cloud State used two jump shots in the first minute of the fourth quarter expanding their lead to 63-50. Isieoma Odor answered with four straight points pulling Minnesota Crookston within 63-54 with 7:41 to play. Paige Cornale buried a three-pointer with 5:53 to play cut UMC’s deficit down to seven with a 3-0 run with 1:54 to play bringing the Golden Eagles within 67-61. St. Cloud State was perfect from the free-throw line during the final minute preventing a late rally from Minnesota Crookston as the Huskies closed out a 77-68 win. “Second chance points was the difference in the ball game,” summarized Roysland after SCSU scored 19 second-chance points off of 17 offensive rebounds. “It was a different person each particular time and that’s just hustle points. St. Cloud did a better job than we did. Maybe it was our youth out there at times but doesn’t matter at this point in the year. It’s just really hard to recover from second-chance points. You’ve just got to credit St. Cloud for their effort.”
UMC drops to 10-18 overall and 5-17 in the NSIC. The Golden Eagles return to the court on Wednesday at Sioux Falls to open the NSIC Tournament tipping off at 5:30 p.m. on KROX. St. Cloud State improves to 17-9 overall and 13-8 in conference play.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| UMC | 18 | 19 | 12 | 19 | 68 |
| SCSU | 15 | 20 | 24 | 18 | 77 |
| UMC | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Isieoma Odor | 23 | 4 | 3 assists/3 blocks |
| Kylie Post | 15 | 4 | 5 assists |
| Bren Fox | 13 | 9 | |
| Paige Weakley | 6 | ||
| Paige Cornale | 5 | 1 | 3 assists |
| Caitlin Michaelis | 4 | 6 | |
| Julia Peplinski | 2 | 1 |
