BOX SCORE
CROOKSTON, Minn. – A missed free-throw by the Golden Eagles capped the excitement of the Minnesota State University Moorhead and Minnesota Crookston women's basketball game Saturday, as the Dragons took a late lead after trailing the entire game, to pick up the win, 64-62.
The Golden Eagles scored the first hoop and increased their early lead to 12-3, as Dragon shots were not connecting with the hoop going 1-for-12 in the first seven minutes of the game. UMC lead 32-22 at halftime and kept their lead until late in the second half.
After trailing by as much as nine in the second half, the Dragons tied up the game at 54 with 6:25 left to play, courtesy of two
Marisa Yernatich free-throws. It was the first time in the game that the Dragons had a share of the lead, and soon after, MSUM took a short lived lead on a
Morgan Zabel free-throw.
The lead changed three more times before the Dragons built up their largest lead of the game, 60-56 with 3:23 remaining in the game. The Golden Eagles tied up the game at 60 with 2:51 on the clock but a big Yernatich three-pointer put the Dragons up for good.
With the Dragons leading 64-62 with 21 seconds left to play, the Golden Eagles passed the ball around their half court before Bri Zabel (the sister of Dragon
Morgan Zabel) drove the lane only to miss the shot but was fouled giving UMC the chance to tie the game from the charity stripe.
Bri Zabel missed her first attempt, and after a time out called by UMC, pushed her second attempt to bounce off of the rim with one second remaining. The Golden Eagles were not able to grab the board for another attempt to tie the game as
Betsy Dickson got a hand on the ball and tipped it out of play as the time expired on the clock.
Yernatich ended the game with 14 points, while junior
Angie Jetvig led the team with 21 points and eight rebounds. Freshman
Megan Strese notched a career-high in points as she tallied 13 points, going 7-for-7 from the free-throw line. She also had eight boards.
The Dragons are now 6-1 overall, winning the last six consecutive games. They are 3-0 in league play while they handed UMC their second loss in conference action. UMC is 4-3 overall.
MSU Moorhead will open league play at home on Friday, Dec. 17 as they host Augustana (S.D.) at 6 p.m.
