Close Games for the Women's Basketball Team This Thanksgiving Week

Women's Basketball against Michigan Tech to start their NSIC schedule. Photo courtesy of UMD Athletics

UMD’s Women’s basketball team faced Northern Michigan University on Saturday, Nov. 23 at Romano Gymnasium at 12 p.m. NMU was victorious against UMD with a final score of 65-63 with the Wildcats staying undefeated with 5-0 stats.

The Bulldogs started out strong taking the lead with a 6-4 takeover. Then they got 7 points consecutively making the score 13-4 with five minutes left to go. They ended the first quarter with a score of 15-9. 

Second quarter of the game the Wildcats fought hard to tie it 17-17. The bulldogs had an 11 point run and kept dominating the period keeping the lead. They ended the first half on top scoring 30-23.

The Wildcats weren’t going to give up, they were determined and got closer to leading. The third period ended with the Bulldogs still dominating 49-44. But in the last period NMU pulled out all the stops and took the lead, winning the game 65-63 .

The players and coaches all worked hard to make it a close game. Myra Moorjani and Johanna Miller tied with 17 points each making them the highest scorers from the team this game. NMU had 40 rebounds with UMD only having 32, but UMD had eight steals with NMU only having six. 

On Sunday, Nov. 24 UMD had a home game against Michigan Tech University at 12p.m. With another close game for the weekend, UMD won 71-67.          

The Bulldogs started the game on top, then they had a 5-point run in the last few minutes of the period. They ended the first period with UMD ahead 21-14. 

Halfway through the second periodUMD had a 6-point run, but the Huskies were determined to pass up the Bulldogs making the end of the period a close one. UMD got the halftime lead of 37-32. 

The Huskies worked hard to gain the lead during the third period. The period ended with a tie of 52-52. In the fourth period with two minutes left in the game they ended up tying it 67-67 but UMD pushed forward taking the lead and coming out victorious with a final score of 71-67. 

The team worked together to get the win, Claire Bjorge had the most points on the team with 17 points while Lexi Karlen wasn’t far behind with 13 points. MTU had 29 rebounds but UMD had almost double with 48 rebounds, but the Huskies had 5 steals of the game where UMD only had 3. The team used hard work and determination to defeat the competition and win. 

UMD again faced another team on Tuesday, Nov. 26 at home at 5:30 p.m. Right before Thanksgiving break the Bulldogs faced the Minnesota State Mankato Mavericks, but lost to them with a final score of 82-64. 

UMD had a rough start to the game but pulled themselves together in the first period. It wasn’t enough to get them the lead, the Mavericks took over the first period with a 25-20 lead. 

In the second period UMD was falling behind but started to find the groove by getting a 5-point run. But MSU dominated the second period going into halftime with a score of 47-34 with UMD drifting off behind.

The Bulldogs tried hard in the third period, but couldn’t catch up to the Mavericks making the final score of the period 65-46. In the fourth period UMD went on a 5-point run making them only ten points behind with 70-60 and 4 minutes left of the game. But the Bulldogs couldn’t catch up at the end giving the Mavericks a win of 82-64. 

Karle dominated this game having the most points on the team with 19 points, behind her was Moorjani with 12 points. MSU had 43 rebounds while the Bulldogs had 38, and UMD had 6 steals while MSU had more than double with 14. 

UMD’s next game will be Friday, Dec. 6 at 5:30 p.m. They'll be on the road against Southwest Minnesota State University.