UMC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL FALLS TO CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL 72-59

The University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) Women’s Basketball team’s offense struggled for the first three-quarters of the game, but a fourth-quarter comeback came up short in a 72-59 loss to the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul.

FIRST QUARTER –
UMC’s offense was sluggish out of the gates as Concordia-St. Paul (CSP) took an 8-2 lead with 3:35 left in the opening quarter. The Golden Eagles’ Kylie Post snapped the scoring drought with a basket with 2:29 remaining to get within an 8-4 deficit and the teams exchanged baskets and UMC’s Emma Carpenter finished the quarter with a three-point play to get within a 16-11 deficit going into the second quarter.

SECOND QUARTER –
The Golden Eagle’s offense continued to struggle as they only scored one point in the first four-plus minutes of the quarter and trailed 22-12 before Abby Guidinger made a jump shot to stop the scoring drought with 5:15 left in the half. Concordia-St. Paul continued their defensive dominance and took a 35-23 lead into halftime.

THIRD QUARTER –
Concordia-St. Paul started the second half with a big 9-2 run in the first two minutes to take a 44-25 lead. It seemed like every time the Golden Eagles was getting the offense going, Concordia-St. Paul would answer and they took a 62-36 lead into the fourth quarter.

FOURTH QUARTER –
UMC trailed 68-42 two minutes into the fourth quarter when the offense got going with a Julia Peplinski basket, which was followed by a Mary Burke three-pointer. Peplinski added a free throw and Mattea Vetsch added two free throws and the Golden Eagles trailed 68-50 halfway through the quarter. After two Concordia-St. Paul free throws UMC followed with back-to-back three-pointers from Alyssa Peterson and Guidinger and a Post free throw to pull within a 70-57 deficit with less than two minutes remaining. The Golden Eagles weren’t able to get any closer and Concordia-St. Paul held on to win 72-59.

UMC drops to 4-18 on the season and 3-15 in the Northern Sun Conference and will travel to Minot State on Friday.  Concordia-St. Paul improves to 12-12 and 9-9 in the NSIC.