MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team survived a fourth-quarter rally from No. 18 Northern State to hold on for a 69-66 win over the Wolves in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Saturday at Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead, Minn.
MSUM has now won nine in a row and improved to 9-1 overall and 6-0 in the NSIC. The Dragons are alone in first in the league after Augustana lost at Wayne State on Saturday. Northern State fell to 8-2 overall and 4-2 in the league.
How It Happened…
It was a tale of two halves. MSUM built a 41-26 halftime lead thanks to shooting 58.6 percent (17-of-29). Freshman forward
Morgan Ham had 10 points in the first half, all coming in the second quarter. The Dragons held the Wolves to 45.8 percent (11-of-24) in the first half.
MSUM led 27-20 with 4:59 left in the first half but outscored the Dragons 14-6 to close out the half to take the 15-point lead into the break. Ham had five points during that run while freshman
Maddie Erickson buried a three.
The Dragons took a 52-41 lead into the fourth quarter and led 57-43 after a Volkert three-pointer with 9:24 left. The Wolves crept back into the game with a 16-4 run to cut the lead to 61-59 with 3:59 left.
The Dragon lead was at 67-66 after a Northern three-pointer with 1:39 left. However, the Dragon defense got key stopes on Northern's final three possession in the final minutes to preserve the lead. Volkert hit two free throws with 1.9 seconds left to ice the game for MSUM.
MSUM shot 45 percent (27-of-60) for the game while Northern State shot 50 percent (28-of-56). The Wolves outrebounded MSUM 33-28.
Impact Performances…
Volkert had 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting while adding five assists, four rebounds and two steals. She was a perfect 5-of-5 from the line.
Freshman forward
Morgan Ham had a career-high 14 points for MSUM, while junior forward
Drew Sannes had 13 points and two assists. Junior forward
Cassidy Thorson had seven points, a team-high eight rebounds and three steals.
Senior guard
Natalie Van Wyhe and freshman forward
Megan Hintz had six points each.
Up Next...
MSUM is off until Dec. 30 when it hosts Minnesota State, Mankato in an NSIC contest at 6 p.m.
Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game
Tonight marks the first time that the Dragons recorded a season sweep over Northern State since winning 72-62 in Aberdeen, S.D. on Jan. 8, 2012 and 58-47 in Moorhead on Feb. 3 that same year.
