UMC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CAN’T CONTAIN #15 RANKED SIOUX FALLS

The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) Women’s Basketball team couldn’t build off a strong first quarter falling 77-59 against #15 Sioux Falls in an NSIC game played at Lysaker Gymnasium.

1st Quarter –
Abby Guidinger (Jr., Waukesha, WI) made a jump shot to open the scoring in the first half giving the Golden Eagles a 2-0 lead. Mary Burke (R-Fr., Virginia) made a three-pointer putting the Golden Eagles in front 7-5 with 7:23 to play in the quarter. Sioux Falls responded with a 6-0 run taking an 11-7 lead. Bren Fox (Soph., Norwood Young America) made a lay-up followed by a Mattea Vetsch (Fr., Devils Lake, ND)  three-pointer reestablishing a 12-11 lead for Minnesota Crookston. Bren Fox scored UMC’s final two baskets of the first half giving the Golden Eagles an 18-16 lead after one quarter. “That was definitely our best quarter,” said Minnesota Crookston head coach Mike Roysland. “I thought the kids had a lot of energy coming into tonight’s game. Sioux Falls is a very good team. I thought after that first quarter, if we could keep it rolling, we’d stay in it.”

2nd Quarter –
Julia Peplinski (Soph., Hustisford, WI) opened the second quarter with a lay-up through a foul, making the free-throw giving Minnesota Crookston a 21-16 lead. Sioux Falls countered with a 12-0 run taking a 28-21 lead. Minnesota Crookston made just one field goal in the final five minutes of the first half as the Cougars built a 40-30 lead going into halftime. “(Sioux Falls) is very smart,” noted Roysland. “They’re veteran players. They’ve been around the block. They made decisions in a hurry. That’s really what this game came down to. Who could make the decisions faster and find open people? They gave us a lot of trouble after that first quarter once they tightened up defensively. We just didn’t make the decisions as fast as we needed to.”

3rd Quarter –
Mary Burke scored six point early to start the second half trimming the Golden Eagles’ deficit down to 43-37 before Emma Carpenter (Fr., Eagan) made a jump shot bringing Minnesota Crookston within 43-39. The Cougars responded by closing the half on an 11-2 run to take a 54-41 lead into the final quarter. “We just weren’t able to keep coming with it,” said Roysland. “I was really happy with how we came out of the locker room and got things rolling again against a good team. I thought we had some good looks in the third quarter that we had to knock down if we were going to stay with a team as good as Sioux Falls.”

4th Quarter –
Minnesota Crookston was unable to trim the deficit down to single digits in the final ten minutes as Sioux Falls added to its lead before closing out a 77-59 win. “It’s good that we’re getting back with more pieces to the puzzle and getting more experience,” summarized Roysland. “We’re getting better. It was a disappointing loss, but you have to play awfully sharp against a team like Sioux Falls if you’re going to beat them. We just didn’t do that long enough.

Minnesota Crookston falls to 4-16 overall and 3-13 in conference play. The Golden Eagles return to the court on Friday when UMC travels to Mankato to take on Minnesota State at 5:30 P.M. Sioux Falls improves to 20-3 overall and 13-3 in the NSIC.