sports

UMC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL USES SOLID ALL-AROUND GAME TO BEAT MARY

January 30, 2021

The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) made all 10 free throws in the final 2:25 of the game and held on to beat the University of Mary Marauders 73-65 to earn a weekend series split at Lysaker Gymnasium in Crookston.

FIRST QUARTER
UMC had a great start and scored the first seven points of the game with Mary Burke (Soph. Virginia) scoring on two strong drives to the basket for layups. Jes Mertens (Fresh. Devils Lake, ND) followed with a three-pointer after some great ball movement for a 7-0 lead. “It was great to get off to a great start,” said UMC Coach Mike Roysland. “I thought we had there was great energy in shoot around and it is always helpful to get out into an early lead.” The Marauders answered with seven straight points to tie the game at 7 almost halfway through the quarter.
UMC responded with five straight points with a Mertens three-pointer and a basket from Emma Carpenter (Soph. Eagan) for a 12-7 lead. Mary responded with five more points to tie the game at 12 before UMC’s Bren Fox (Jr. Norwood Young America) made a free throw to give her team a 13-12 lead with 90 seconds left in the quarter. Mary scored a basket with 10 seconds left and took a 14-13 lead going into the second quarter. “I thought we had a couple of miscues there,” said Coach Roysland. “I thought we had a good first quarter and played well. I was comfortable with the pace early on.”

SECOND QUARTER
The second quarter was more of the same as each team would go on a bunch of mini-runs and UMC led 21-18 when Mary Burke made a three-pointer for a 24-18 lead, the biggest of the first half for the Golden Eagles, with 5:10 left in the half. “We had some nice looks inside and needed something from the outside,” said Coach Roysland. “That was a big shot by Mary.”
Mary responded with five straight points from Lexie Schneider (Jr. Hilbert, Wis) to bring the Marauders within a 24-23 deficit. UMC’s Post and Carpenter answered with back-to-back baskets, but Mary had an answer to get within a 32-31 deficit with 31 seconds left in the half. UMC finished the half in impressive fashion as Carpenter made two free throws with 6.6 seconds remaining. On the Mary inbound pass, Mertens knocked the ball away and the Marauders had to inbound on the sideline. Mertens stole the inbound pass and quickly shoveled a pass to a streaking Post who laid it in before the buzzer and the Golden Eagles took a 36-31 lead into halftime. “That really gave us some energy going into the half,” said Coach Roysland. “That was great hustle by Jes and she really has a knack for the ball to get steals and jump balls. It was such a nice play and when you work hard good things happen and to have the wherewithal to look for Kylie, it was great.”

THIRD QUARTER
UMC started the third quarter like they ended the first half, with a Kylie Post layup and the Golden Eagles led 38-31. Mary chipped away at the UMC lead over several minutes and trailed 40-37 when the Golden Eagles caught fire from downtown. Mertens made a three-pointer and Mary Burke followed with back-to-back three’s from the top of the key for a 49-37 lead halfway through the quarter. “Jes got us going and we found Mary for a couple of big shots,” said Coach Roysland. “That was a big run for us.” The teams played even the rest of the way and UMC took a 56-45 lead into the fourth quarter.

FOURTH QUARTER
UMC led 58-45 early in the quarter when Mary went on a 12-2 run to get within a 60-57 deficit with four minutes left in the game. The Golden Eagles’ Burke stopped the run with a pull-up free-throw line jump shot and Fox followed with a free throw and UMC led 63-57. Mary battled back to get within a 67-64 deficit with less than two minutes remaining. “We weren’t controlling the ball very well and every time I took a time out we seemed to turn the ball over and had too many careless passes,” said Coach Roysland. The game turned into a free-throw shooting contest in the final 90 seconds and UMC made 8 of their 10 free throws to secure a 73-65 victory. “We have struggled a bit at the free throw line this year, so that was big and different players made the free throws which was nice to see,” said Coach Roysland. “We are getting better and the girls were focused today and it was a complete team effort. We are getting better and have been in all the games except for two and we have three weekends left in the regular season with a lot to play for.”

UMC improves to 3-5 in the NSIC North and 3-7 overall and will host Minnesota Duluth next weekend. Mary drops to 2-4 in the NSIC North and 2-6 overall.