The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) Women’s Basketball team was unable to overcome a 30-7 deficit after one quarter in an 84-71 loss to Minnesota State in an NSIC game played at Lysaker Gymnasium.
In the first quarter, Minnesota State opened the game on a 9-0 run. Paige Cornale (Fr., Oak Creek, WI) scored a lay-up 2:58 into the game to get UMC on the scoreboard trailing 9-2. The Mavericks responded with a 10-0 run pushing the visitors lead to 19-2 with 5:15 still to play in the first quarter. Isieoma Odor (R-Sr., Bloomington) scored the Golden Eagles second basket of the night with 4:51 to play in the first quarter before Minnesota State responded with a 9-0 run pushing their lead to 28-4. Paige Weakley (Jr., Kearney, MO) made a pair of free-throws before a free-throw by Cornale closed out the first quarter scoring with UMC trailing 30-7. “We just didn’t come out tough enough,” said Minnesota Crookston head coach Mike Roysland. “We just dug ourselves such a hole until our kids started to learn to fight back. You just can’t have that. We were well aware that we needed to come out and match their physicality and we weren’t able to do that.”
Isieoma Odor opened the second quarter with two free-throws for Minnesota Crookston before a Caitlin Michaels (Sr., Marshfield, WI) three-pointer brought the hosts within 34-12. As the two sides traded baskets a Kylie Post (Fr., Corcoran) made a three-pointer sparking a 5-0 UMC run bringing the Golden Eagles within 42-23 with 2:05 left in the first half. Paige Weakley made a pair of three-pointers to close the first-half with Minnesota Crookston still trailing 45-29 at halftime. “It was important just to try and get something positive,” explained Roysland. “We beat them in the second quarter and knew we had to come out and do that same thing in the third quarter.”
Minnesota State opened up their lead back to 49-31 to open the second half with a three-pointer with 7:38 to play in the third quarter pushing the Mavericks’ lead to 54-35. A Caitlin Michaelis lay-up sparked a 4-0 run bringing the Golden Eagles back within 54-39. Paige Weakley made a three-pointer pulling Minnesota Crookston within 56-42, followed by a Bren Fox (Fr., Norwood Young America) free-throw bringing the Golden Eagles within 56-43. With 3:28 left in the quarter Caitlin Michaelis made a three-pointer cutting the deficit down to twelve. Paige Weakley scored five straight points followed by two Isieoma Odor free-throws pulling Minnesota Crookston within 62-55. Kylie Post made a free-throw to close the third quarter with Minnesota State’s lead down to 64-56.
Paige Weakley continued her career-night opening the final quarter with a three-pointer bringing Minnesota Crookston within five. After Minnesota State hit a three, Paige Cornale knocked down a deep shot trimming the host’s deficit down to 67-62. With their lead down to five Minnesota State scored four-straight points to re-establish a nine-point lead before Odor banked in a fadeaway shot from the right side of the lane closing Minnesota Crookston’s deficit down to 71-64 before a Minnesota State lay-up regained a nine-point lead for the visitors. A free-throw gave the Maverick’s a double-figure lead followed by two more Minnesota State basket’s extending their lead to 78-64 with 3:36 to play. MSU added two free-throws boosting their lead to 80-64. Minnesota Crookston scored for the first time in over four minutes when Caitlin Michaelis drove to the basket for a lay-up trimming UMC’s deficit down to 80-66 with 1:31 remaining. Isieoma Odor made a lay-up through a foul with 1:05 to play making the free-throw cutting Minnesota State’s lead down to 81-69. Minnesota State was able to make enough free-throws in the closing minute to prevent Minnesota Crookston from threatening in the waning seconds as Minnesota State hung on for an 84-71 win. “We just had too many turnovers (21), we got it down to five and then had three straight turnovers which ultimately cost us the game,” summarized Roysland. “I was just disappointed with our toughness and disappointed with our turnovers. Until we can figure out how to get off to better starts we’re going to keep having the same results.”
Minnesota Crookston falls to 10-13 overall and 5-12 in NSIC play. The Golden Eagles return to the court on Saturday when UMC hosts Concordia-St. Paul at 3:30 p.m. on KROX. Minnesota State improves to 10-11 overall and 7-10 in conference games.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| MSU-Mankato | 30 | 15 | 19 | 20 | 84 |
| UMC | 7 | 22 | 27 | 15 | 71 |
| UMC | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Paige Weakley | 23 | 1 | |
| Isieoma Odor | 15 | 7 | 5 assists |
| Caitlin Michaelis | 14 | 4 | 4 assists |
| Paige Cornale | 10 | 1 | 3 assists |
| Kylie Post | 6 | 4 | |
| Bren Fox | 3 | 2 |
