The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) Women’s Basketball team dropped its fifth straight despite a strong fourth quarter in a 78-70 loss against the University of Mary in an NSIC game played at the McDowell Activity Center in Bismarck, North Dakota.
1st Quarter –
Julia Peplinski (Soph., Hustisford, WI) made a lay-up to open the scoring giving Minnesota Crookston a 2-0 lead. Peplinski scored her second lay-up reestablishing a 4-2 lead for the Golden Eagles. The University of Mary used an 11-0 run to take a 13-4 lead with 5:55 to play in the opening quarter. Trailing 15-7, Kylie Post (Soph., Corcoran) scored a lay-up before Mattea Vetsch made a pair of free-throws trimming UMC’s deficit down to 15-11. Mary Burke (R-Fr., Virginia) scored the final five points of the quarter for the Golden Eagles, but the Marauders had a 20-16 lead after one quarter.
2nd Quarter –
Mary Burke opened the second quarter with a three-pointer trimming Minnesota Crookston’s deficit down to 20-19. The Marauders went on a 7-2 run, taking a 27-21 lead before the Golden Eagles countered with a 5-0 run to pull back within 27-26. Emma Carpenter (Fr., Eagan) scored a lay-up tying the score at 30-30 with 4:32 to play in the half, but the University of Mary closed the half with a 9-0 run taking a 39-30 lead into halftime. “It really was back-breaking,” said UMC head coach Mike Roysland of the 9-0 run to end the half by the Marauders. “We had a lot of goof looks to end the half. I particularly remember Emma Carpenter attacking the rim a couple of times. Julia Peplinski had some looks at the rim. Mattea Vetsch had a couple of threes. We had five or six possesions there where we had some great looks and couldn’t capitalize. That just goes back to our inconsistencies in the moment.”
3rd Quarter –
The Marauders opened the second half with the first two baskets, but Minnesota Crookston’s Mattea Vetsch and Alyssa Peterson (Fr., Menhaga) made three-pointers keeping UMC’s deficit at nine points. Leading 47-38, UMary went on a 15-0 run over five minutes, giving the Marauders a 62-38 lead. Minnesota Crookston closed the quarter on a 5-0 run, but still trailed 62-43 heading into the final quarter. “The third quarter really hurt us because we really had some costly turnovers,” added Roysland. “We had a bunch of bad entry passes into the post, and that just allowed them to have a lot more scoring opportunities in the third quarter.”
4th Quarter –
The two sides traded points to start the final quarter before Minnesota Crookston went on an 8-0 run to pull within 66-54 with 6:50 to play. The Golden Eagles were unable to pull within single digits until the last shot of the game as the big deficit proved too much to overcome in the 78-70 win for the University of Mary. “If we played every quarter like we played this fourth quarter than our season would look a lot different than it has,” noted Roysland after his team outscored UMary 27-16 in the final ten minutes. “Obviously, that has not been the case, but we’re showing flashes of progress. We know the talent is there, we just have to produce over a consistent basis. That comeback doesn’t happen if our kids quit, but they’re working so hard we just have to stay the course.”
Minnesota Crookston falls to 4-21 overall and 3-18 in conference play. The Golden Eagles return to the court Friday when UMC hosts Minnesota Duluth at 5:30 P.M. UMary improves to 19-10 overall and 13-7 in NSIC play.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Score | |
| UMC | 16 | 14 | 13 | 27 | 70 |
| University of Mary | 20 | 19 | 23 | 16 | 78 |
| UMC | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Mary Burke | 21 | 3 | |
| Kylie Post | 14 | 2 | 5 assists |
| Julia Peplinski | 9 | 13 | |
| Veronica Schwartz | 6 | 0 | |
| Mattea Vetsch | 5 | 2 | |
| Alyssa Peterson | 5 | 0 | |
| Abby Guidinger | 5 | 4 | |
| Amber Schoenicke | 3 | 1 | |
| Emma Carpenter | 2 | 3 |
