Women's Basketball Report: January 6
Minnesota Duluth 76, St. Cloud State 65
Duluth, Minn. -- Katie Winkelman, who was 22 points shy of 1,000 career points prior to the contest, led Minnesota Duluth over St. Cloud State in Romano Gymnasium.
Winkelman's 28 game-high points, including 15 in the second half, not only propelled the Bulldogs to their first North Central Conference victory of the season, but cemented her legacy within the storied UMD program.
The Bulldogs proved up to the task early, never trailing more than three points and led the last 10 minutes of the half. UMD, riding the coat-tails of a fiery 50 percent from 3-point land on 5-of-10 shooting, pushed its lead to as many as eight points before closing out the half with a 32-26 lead.
The Bulldogs added to their advantage early and led by as many as 10 at the 14:26 mark. The Huskies fought back however, drawing to within two (48-46) with just over eleven minutes left off a 10-2 run.
At the 6:20 mark, Winkelman was fouled on a lay-up, sending her to the charity stripe. The senior then did what only 16 other Bulldog women have done before her when she dropped in her 1,000 career point.
St. Cloud pulled within two points (62-60) with just under four minutes left before UMD flexed with eight straight unanswered tallies to bring the total sum to 68-60.
After the Huskies completed a three point play to strike within five points, the Bulldogs buckled down defensively and stretched out their lead to seven (70-63) on a pair of Alissa Pauly free throws with 46 ticks left on the clock. Pauly and three other Bulldogs would hit 8-of-10 tosses from the line in the final 46 seconds to cement their first NCC win of the season, and first over St. Cloud since the 2004-05 season.
Winkelman led all scorers with her 28 points, one off her career best of 29. Three other Bulldogs tallied double figures on the afternoon, including Katy Freeman with 13 and Justine Axtell and Alissa Pauly, who each added 10. Pauly had her first double-double of the season, tossing out 10 assists in the UMD win.
St. Cloud, 11-5, 0-2, was led by Erika Quigley who had a double-double of her own featuring 24 points and 15 rebounds. Kayla Rengel added 19 points in the conference loss.
North Dakota 68, Minnesota State 55
Grand Forks, N.D. -- Minnesota State could not keep pace with North Dakota, falling 68-55 at UND's Betty Engelstad Center.
Despite being out-rebounded 56-32, the Mavericks held UND to its lowest point total in a win this season with 68. UND came into the contest averaging 83 points per game.
North Dakota opened the game with back-to-back three-pointers to anchor a 15-3 opening run while the Mavericks shot just 1-for-13 from the floor. Six consecutive points from Flecia Foster brought the game to within six, 15-9, but that's as close as the Mavericks could get. Holding the Mavericks' leading scorer, Alex Andrews, to just one basket, North Dakota jumped to a 36-23 halftime advantage. MSU shot just 29 percent (8-27) in the opening half, while UND finished 12-of-37 (32 percent) with a perfect 9-of-9 effort from the free throw line.
Out of the locker room, Minnesota State enthuasitically opened the second half with a 7-2 run. But UND quickly regained control of the tempo, with Kierah Kimbrough and Ashley Langen working towards double-doubles with 21 points/16 rebounds and 17 points/14 rebounds, respectively. It was Kimbrough's seventh double-double of the season and Langen's sixth. North Dakota shot 32 percent (22-67) on the game, while MSU managed a 35 percent (21-58).
With the help of three three-pointers, Foster led the Mavericks with 13 points. Andrews recorded 11 points (5-9) and Tiffany Moe added 10 points and four assists. Alanna Wahl grabbed a season-high seven rebounds to lead the team
Augustana 66, South Dakota 64
Vermillion, S.D. - Alison Adamson hit two free throws with eight seconds left and South Dakota's Jenna Hoffman missed a three-pointer at the buzzer to give Augustana a 66-64 win at the DakotaDome.
It was a game of streaks as Augustana held the Coyotes to only 18 points in the first half before USD reeled off 46 second-half points to make the game close.
Augustana led the contest 27-18 at the half and by 15 points at the 16:13 mark of the second half before USD went on a 15-0 run to be tied at 41 at the 13:06 mark.
By 6:02 the Coyotes were up by eight, their largest margin of the night, before Augie went on a 12-4 run for tie at 61 at 1:47. Then it was back and forth to set up the Adamson game-winning free throws off a touch foul in the lane.
Augie was led by the 21 points of Adamson, who managed to hit 7 of her 14 shots from the floor, including 3 of 5 three-pointers. Andrea Walsh picked up 15 points off the bench while Ashley Holiday had 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
Ashley Robinette led South Dakota with 18 points and six rebounds and was joined in double figures by Bridget Yoerger (14 points) and Shannon Daly (10 points). Hoffman also pulled down six rebounds.
Augustana shot 47.2 percent (25x52) from the
field for the game while limiting South Dakota to 38.2 percent
(21-55)