Volume 78 / Number 18
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Women's basketball gets first conference win of season
BY ARIK FORSMAN | STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
STATESMANLARAMIE CARLSON / STATESMAN
UMD's Jordanne Even puts up a free throw as Katy Freeman gets ready for the rebound.
"Long time coming," is the way a smiling coach Tanya Bauer described her team's first conference win of the season last Saturday. Going into their matchup with the St. Cloud State Huskies (SCSU), the Bulldogs had dropped five straight and had yet to give Bauer her first conference win as the Bulldogs' coach.
UMD unleashed a cohesive defensive flurry, forcing and capitalizing on 26 turnovers in a 72-65 thriller at Romano Gym on Alumni Day last Saturday.
In a game that featured no lead larger than seven points and six second-half lead changes, the Bulldogs were finally able to get over the hump and chalk up a win in the North Central Conference (NCC). Junior Stephanie Reiter and senior Kim Wagers led the charge in the scoring department with 13 points apiece. Senior Katy Freeman added 12, while fellow senior Alissa Pauly chipped in 10 points.
However, the story of the game was the Bulldogs' defense. After dueling to a 29-29 tie in the first half, UMD fed off their defensive pressure to pick up the offensive effort in the second half, scoring 43 points. Freeman said the defensive effort was the key to the offensive attack.
"The offensive turnaround, for us, it really stems from our defense," Freeman said. "So that's really what we focused on to turn the game around."
St. Cloud State kept the Bulldogs on their toes in the second half, mounting a furious comeback late. A huge 3-pointer from Wagers put the Bulldogs up 62-57 with 1:35 left in the game, but SCSU wouldn't stay down. The Huskies got within three with a seal-off layup from Rachel Booth at 1:14, but clutch free throw shooting and hustle on defense, including a brilliant steal by Pauly, locked up the victory for UMD. Pauly and Freeman each tied career-highs with five and four steals respectively, an effort Bauer said shows leadership.
"Pauly and Freeman are always all over the place, just the effort those two kids put into the game is just incredible, and I think if the youngsters follow their lead, we're heading in a real good direction," Bauer said. Freeman points out how the leadership is truly a team effort.
"I think we have great leadership on this team, but it comes from everybody, not just the three seniors," Freeman said. "So everybody did a really good job tonight."
Bauer added that her team isn't a finished product and will use this game as a stepping-stone for the rest of the season.
"Our entire season we are a work in progress, and our goal is to continue to get better every day," Bauer said. "So that would be the next step we need to take, and we felt like we did a good job executing that goal today."
The Bulldogs improve to 1-4 in the NCC and will travel to take on no. 6-ranked South Dakota tonight.
