The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) women’s basketball team overwhelmed the Concordia-Moorhead Cobbers in a 90-53 win in an exhibition game played at Lysaker Gymnasium.
UMC’s offense got off to a quick start and never looked back. Minnesota Crookston’s offense came out firing as the Golden Eagles answered the Cobbers opening two -points with an 11-0 run taking an 11-2 lead. Alyssa Peterson (Fr., Menahga) knocked down a three-pointer giving UMC a 19-4 lead, which grew to 22-4 after Paige Weakley (Sr., Kearney, MO) connected from beyond the arc. Weakley added another three boosing the UMC advantage to 25-4. Minnesota Crookston cruised the rest of the first quarter taking a 31-8 lead after just 10 minutes of play. “I thought we were taking good shots,” said UMC head coach Mike Roysland. “We did a nice job getting the ball inside out, and I thought our players found the appropriate player. Paige Weakley got us off to a quick start making a couple of shots, (Kylea) Praska did the same thing when she came in.”
Kylea Praska (Soph., Thief River Falls) opened the second quarter making an open three-pointer extending UMC’s advantage to 34-8. Later in the quarter, Praska hit another triple giving UMC a 51-19 lead. The Golden Eagles continued pouring it on in the first half as UMC took a 56-24 lead into halftime. “We’ve got the bench, and we’ve got the depth,” noted Roysland. “As you saw tonight, we really didn’t wilt. We’ve got more breakdown ability than we did last year. I think that’s a really big key because now you’re going to get the ball to some people where they can knock down shots.”
In the second half, Minnesota Crookston extended its bench entirely with the lead surpassing 40 points both teams were able to utilize their full depth. The Golden Eagles lead remained around 40 points for the final 20 minutes of the game before a late three-pointer by Ashley Freund (Jr., Jordan) closed out the 93-50 Minnesota Crookston win. “We had a lot of contributions out of a lot of people,” summarized Roysland. “The kids did a nice job playing with each other. With these exhibitions, it’s about getting better. It’s not about the score. You want to win, but its really about finding where you’re weak and what you have to work on.”
Minnesota Crookston concludes their exhibition schedule on Friday night when the Golden Eagles take on North Dakota State in Fargo at 7:00 P.M. with the Riverview Health pregame show starting at 6:30 P.M. on KROX.
| Box Score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| Concordia | 8 | 16 | 11 | 15 | 50 |
| UMC | 31 | 25 | 21 | 16 | 93 |
| UMC | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Paige Weakley | 18 | ||
| Julia Peplinski | 13 | 6 | 2 steals |
| Kylea Praska | 11 | 2 steals | |
| Emma Carpenter | 10 | 6 assists | |
| Bren Fox | 9 | 4 | |
| Paige Cornale | 5 | 4 | |
| Mattea Vetsch | 5 | 4 | |
| Mary Burke | 5 | 4 | |
| Alyssa Peterson | 5 | 3 assists | |
| Abby Guidinger | 5 | 4 | |
| Ashley Freund | 3 | ||
| Veronica Schwartz | 3 | ||
| Kylie Post | 2 | 6 assists |
