Women’s Basketball completes comeback at home to win NCAA Central Regional Final

UMD Women's Basketball raises their NCAA Regional Championship trophy. Photo by. Lukas Lorenz

Fresh off of their third straight NSIC Conference championship in a row, the UMD Women’s Basketball team completes the comeback victory over Missouri Southern State to win the NCAA Central Region championship for the first time in program history.

Women’s Basketball headed into March with an overall record of 27-3, and an impressive conference record of 21-1. This secured the team’s fourth straight NSIC North championship and their third straight NSIC Conference title with their 80-74 win over Minnesota State Mankato.

This performance seeded the team as #1 overall in the central region and allow them to host the NCAA Central Regional tournament at UMD’s very own Romano Gym. This would be the first time either UMD basketball program had ever hosted a regional, and the team’s fifth straight NCAA tournament appearance. 

UMD Women's basketball raises their NCAA Elite Eight invite after their regional win over Missouri Southern State. Photo by. Lukas Lorenz

The opening round of the tournament put them head to head against Southern Nazarene, ending in a Bulldog win 66-50. Senior Forward Brooke Olson would post an impressive 32 points in the matchup, helping the program secure its first NCAA opening-round win since their win over Emporia State in the 2020-21 season.

The Bulldogs would find themselves in an NSIC championship rematch in the second round, yet again defeating Minnesota State Mankato 86-70. Olson would post another career performance, closing out the game with 43 points to send them to the regional title game. 

The Bulldogs would start off slow in the regional title game against Missouri Southern State University, as they headed into halftime with an 18-point deficit. They were able to bounce back late in the game with a particularly aggressive strategy of forcing turnovers on the opposing in bounds and forcing fouls to stop the clock, cutting the MSSU lead to just two points in the last 36 seconds. With 16 seconds left, Junior Forward Ella Gilberston would knock down a game-winning three-pointer for her team. 

UMD Women's Basketball rush to celebrate after completing the comeback win in the central region championship. Photo by. Lukas Lorenz

The defense would hold out until the end to win the game, causing a stampede of fellow UMD students to rush the court to celebrate with the team. The true win condition would prove to be the team’s impressive ability to capitalize on free throw shots, going 10 for 11 from the line throughout the game. 

The UMD Women’s basketball team will make their first-ever NCAA elite eight appearance against Assumption University next week on Monday, Mar. 20 in St. Joseph, Missouri.