MOORHEAD, Minn. – One thing the Minnesota State University Moorhead Dragons had on their minds Sunday night was payback when they hosted Minnesota State University-Mankato, after they fell a little over a year ago to the Mavericks in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The Dragons got their revenge over the Mavericks in an impressive all around team effort, winning convincingly 82-74.
The Mavericks, the 2009 NCAA DII National Championships, suffered their fourth loss this season, their second consecutive loss in league play moving to 8-4 overall and 3-2 in the NSIC. The Dragons picked up a win after suffering three losses in their last four games, moving their overall record to 10-3 and have a 4-2 mark in the league.
The Dragons were fueled by a total team effort and great bench play as three Dragons were in double figures.
Meghan Rettke charted her seventh double-double of the year with 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Brittany Mayclin and
Alison Nash-Gerlach each contributed as starters, with 14 points and 12 points, respectively. Both Marissa Yernatich, and
Kaycee Charette came off the bench to tally eight.
Angie Jetvig also tallied eight.
MSU-Moorhead started out the game with two quick baskets by Mayclin and Jetvig. From there, the Dragons never looked back as they went up 7-2 and would not relinquish the lead.
The Mavericks would not going to go away quietly as Jennie Noreen, the Mavericks leading scorer, would sink two free throws to make the score 9-8 at the 15:00 minute mark.
Yernatich, her first time in the game, came out hot as she sunk a three-pointer to move the score to 14-10 in favor of the Red and White. At the 12:00 minute mark, Rettke took control at the post, as she dominated the glass early with six rebounds in the first half. The Dragons would feed off of Rettke's hustle and open the game up with an 11-4 run late in the first half with a 33-19 lead with seven minutes remaining in the half.
Although down, Liz Trauger made sure that the Mavericks were never out as she kept them in the game, making sure that the Dragons wouldn't run away with the win; as she put up 13 points and five rebounds in the first 20 minutes of play. She finished with 20 points and six rebounds.
And, as the half would come to a close the Mavericks hit a buzzer beating three–pointer by Tiffany Moe to cut the Dragon lead down to ten, 44-34.
The Dragons held the Mavericks to just eight percent shooting from beyond the arc and 43 percent total shooting in the first half. Compared to the Dragons 80 percent from behind the arc and 54 percent from the field.
MSUM would take an 18 point lead at the 15:00 minute mark, before Trauger carried the Mavericks back to within ten at the 12:00 minute mark. The Mavericks fed off of the Dragon's turnovers and inched their way back. Sarah Wiens and Ali Wilkinson would hit back-to-back three pointers to cut the lead to just six.
Although MSU-Moorhead started to bend, they did not break. The game got as close as two points at the four minute mark, but the Dragons calmly kept their composure and took advantage of the Mavericks unwise decisions, to win their fourth conference game.
Moorhead went 27-for-30 (80 percent) from the free-throw line as compared to Mankato's 16-for-24 (66 percent), and 41 percent from the three-point line.
The Dragons travel to Augustana (S.D.) and Wayne State (Neb.) next weekend. Friday's game against the Vikings will start at 6 p.m.
