UMD Women’s Basketball falls to Ashland in NCAA National Championship

The UMD Women’s Basketball team’s historic season comes to an end following a hard-fought 78-67 loss to the Ashland University Eagles in the NCAA Division II national championship in Dallas, Texas.

The Bulldogs came into the game fighting, exchanging four different lead changes with the Eagles through the first quarter. The dogs would put up their largest lead of 3 points before going into the second trailing 14-11. They would keep the game close until 6:51 left in the quarter when they let up 15 unanswered points, leaving them at a 40-22 deficit going into halftime.

The Bulldog defense would come out swinging in the second half of the game, amassing 10 steals and cutting the Eagle’s lead down to 13 points in the third. While the Eagle’s lead would fall to just 7 points late in the fourth, their 51% shooting rate and 81% free throw rate over the game would prove to be too much for the Dogs to overcome.

WBCA Player of the Year, grad student Brooke Olson, would end the game with 26 points, setting a new record for points scored during the NCAA tournament at 171 points overall. Junior Guard Taya Hakamaki would post a new title game record with a career-best 6 steals in the game.

The Bulldogs end an impressive season with a 32-4 record, their third straight NSIC conference title win, and their most NCAA tournament wins with 5.

Sports and OutdoorsLukas LorenzApril 6, 2023