The University of Mary Women’s Basketball team outscored Minnesota Crookston 41-25 in the first half of an 82-71 win in an NSIC game played at the McDowell Activity Center in Bismarck, North Dakota.
Isieoma Odor (Sr., Bloomington) opened the scoring for Minnesota Crookston with a mid-range jumper giving the Golden Eagles an early lead. Following three free-throws from the Marauders, Bren Fox (Fr., Norwood Young America) scored a lay-up inside giving UMC a 4-3 lead. Coral Gillette (Soph., Bismarck, ND) made a three-pointer at the other giving UMary a 6-4 lead. After an Odor jump shot gave UMC a 7-6 lead, went on an 11-0 rin to take a 17-7 lead. Paige Weakley (Jr., Kearney, MO) made a three-pointer to close the first quarter with Minnesota Crookston trailing 17-10. “We had some shots blocked and we had some turnovers,” explained UMC head coach Mike Roysland of his team’s low scoring first quarter. “We had some really tough turnovers right away. It’s kind of one of those things where the lane is there, but the execution wasn’t and the turnovers really were, I thought the catalyst that really kind of hurt us in the first and second quarter.”
The Marauders opened the second quarter with a 6-2 run taking a 23-12 lead with 8:03 left in the first half. Isieoma Odor scoreed four-straight points pulling UMC within 23-16, but another Marauders’ 7-0 run pushed the hosts lead up to 33-18 with 5:03 left in the second quarter. Paige Weakley made a three-pointer bringing the Golden Eagles within 35-25 heading into the final minute of the first half, but UMary made two three-pointers in the final minute to take a 41-25 lead into halftime. “I just thought that we could play better than the way we were playing,” said Roysland. “Paige Weakley was doing some nice things and kind of gave us a lift and Isi (Odor) was doing a nice job of scoring, but they just made some big shots.”
A quick 5-0 run early in the third quarter capped off by another Odor basket brought UMC within 43-31 with 7:52 to play in the third quarter. A pair of Steph McWilliams (Jr., Grand Forks, ND) free-throws brought the Golden Eagles within 45-35, but the Golden Eagles struggled to trim their deficit down to single-digits. UMary scored four straight free throws to take a 55-39 lead late in the quarter, but UMC closed the quarter with a 7-2 run ending with an Amber Schoenicke (Jr., Marshall, WI) lay-up in transition pulling Minnesota Crookston within 58-48 after three quarters. “I thought Paige Weakley ran the floor well,” said Roysland explaining UMC’s strong third quarter. “Amber Schoenicke ran the floor really well and Paige Cornale (Fr., Oak Creek, WI) got to the rim a couple of times so we had some different people scoring at the rim. We only had nine threes in the game and they were going to take the three away from us. We were only two of nine. I thought in the third quarter we were making good decisions, but there again they’re tough to stop and they made some tough shots.”
UMary scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to take a 62-48 lead. With 7:15 left to play a pair of three-pointers pushed the hosts’ lead up to 72-54. Minnesota Crookston clamped down with one last run to try and make things close. Abby Guidinger (Soph., Waukesha, WI) made a lay-up followed by a Paige Weakley score inside cutting the deficit down to 72-58. Kylie Post (Fr., Corcoran) made a free-throw followed by baskets from Guidinger and Odor to close out the 9-0 run that trimmed UMC’s deficit down to 72-63. Both sides traded baskets but Minnesota Crookston was unable to rally any closer as UMary made their free-throws down the stretch to close out an 82-71 win. “I think that we can play with them,” summarized Roysland. “We just need to play better. Hopefully, our kids understand that if they had possessions back, they could do better. We’ve got to have a short memory and try to rebound tomorrow night.”
Minnesota Crookston falls to 10-9 overall and 5-8 in conference play. The Golden Eagles return to the court Saturday when UMC takes on Minot State at 3:30 p.m. on KROX. The University of Mary improves to 11-5 overall and 9-4 in conference play.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| UMC | 10 | 15 | 23 | 23 | 71 |
| U of Mary | 17 | 24 | 17 | 24 | 82 |
| UMC | Points | Rebounds | Assists/Steals |
| Isieoma Odor | 26 | 4 | |
| Paige Weakley | 13 | 4 | 4 Assists / 1 Block |
| Paige Cornale | 8 | ||
| Amber Schoenicke | 6 | 5 | |
| Caitlin Michaelis | 5 | 3 Assists | |
| Kylie Post | 4 | 2 Assists / 2 Steals | |
| Abby Guidinger | 4 | ||
| Bren Fox | 2 | 7 | |
| Steph McWilliams | 2 | 3 | |
| Kylea Praska | 1 | 2 Steals |
