The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Women’s basketball team struggled to get much of anything going on offense throughout the entire game, as the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs defense was tremendous in their 77-60 victory on Friday night on Gary Senske Court at Lysaker Gymnasium in Crookston.
FIRST QUARTER –
UMD got off to a strong start to open the game, as they built a 9-2 lead in the first minute and a half of the contest. UMC looked to answer, and Emma Miller (Jr., Albertville, MN) looked to do just that, hitting a three to end the run. This sparked the Golden Eagle offense, and Nicole Hernandez (Sr., Oak Creek, WI) drilled a 3-pointer to put the Golden Eagles up 10-9. After Miller hit another shot from deep to put the Golden Eagles up 13-11, the Bulldogs’ defense was able to hold them to 4 points in the final 6:13. Vanessa Bickford hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put UMD up 4, and two Grace Counts free throws capped off a 10-0 run to put the Bulldogs up 21-13. The Golden Eagles were able to score twice in the final 2:25, but the Bulldogs took a 23-17 lead into the 2nd quarter.
SECOND QUARTER –
The teams exchanged buckets back and forth to start the second quarter. Willow Thiel (Fr., Perham, MN) scored the first 4 points for the Golden Eagles, but the Bulldogs maintained their six-point lead. Then, as teams continued to exchange buckets, another Emma Miller 3-pointer cut the lead to 3, at 31-28. Thiel put in one from deep the very next possession, and the game was tied at 31 with 4:22 remaining in the half. Although this looked on paper like UMC had all the momentum, the Bulldogs brought back the lockdown defense, and only held the Golden Eagles to 2 points in that final 4:22. Maria Counts and Lexi Krage led the charge, scoring 9 of the Bulldogs’ final 11 points in the half, and UMD was able to walk into the locker room with a 42-33 advantage.
THIRD QUARTER –
The first two possessions for each team to start the quarter resulted in layups, and it looked like the 3rd quarter would trend towards the high-scoring variety. However, after Miller recorded her 19th point of the contest to cut the lead down to 8, at 49-41 with 6:56 remaining, neither team was able to hit a shot until 2:10 later, when another Miller jumper cut the lead to 6. Both teams then stayed scoreless for another 1:54, then Riley Jenkins (So., Galesburg, IL) made her presence felt, scoring 5 points in 40 seconds to cut the lead to 3 at 51-48. In the final two minutes, though, UMC had yet another stretch where scoring was minimal, and the Bulldogs capitalized, going on a 7-2 run in the final 1:37 to take a 58-50 lead into the 4th quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER –
The Bulldogs set a trend in the first three quarters of this contest in preventing the Golden Eagles to score for multiple minutes at a time. This was amplified tremendously, as the Golden Eagles only managed to score 10 points in the entire fourth quarter, with 5 of them coming in the final minute. The Bulldog defense continued to create turnovers and contest shots, as well as win the rebound battle by a 14-rebound margin, at 44-30. Lexi Karge scored 9 of her game-leading 22 points in the fourth as well, and this was enough for the Bulldogs to cruise by the end, winning the game by a score of 77-60.
UMC drops to 9-18 on the year and 7-14 in the NSIC. UMC will host Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday in the regular season finale.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| UM-Duluth | 23 | 19 | 16 | 19 | 77 |
| UM-Crookston | 17 | 16 | 17 | 10 | 60 |
| For UMC | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Emma Miller | 26 | 2 | 1/1 |
| Riley Jenkins | 13 | 5 | 4/0 |
| Willow Thiel | 11 | 2 | 3/0 |
| Nicole Hernandez | 3 | 7 | – |
| Natalie Mikrot | 3 | – | – |
| Halle Winjum | 2 | 3 | 1/0 |
| Rayna Klejeski | 2 | 1 | – |
