MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team led by six in the fourth quarter but Minnesota Crookston rallied for a 69-65 win over the Dragons in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Friday in Moorhead, Minn.
MSUM fell to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the NSIC with the loss while UMC improved to 1-6 overall and 1-2 in the league.
A pair of Dragons had double-doubles on the night, as junior guard
Jacky Volkert narrowly missed a triple-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Senior forward
Drew Sannes had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore forward
Megan Hintz had 10 points and seven rebounds.
MSUM shot 28-of-68 (41.2 percent) for the game, compared to 42.9 percent (24-of-56) for the Golden Eagles. The Dragons had a commanding 47-29 edge in rebounds, including 13-0 on the offensive glass. MSUM did commit 15 turnovers which led to a 13-6 advantage in points off of turnovers for UMC.
The Dragons trailed by as many as 11 in the first half and were down 40-31 at halftime despite 10 first-half points from Volkert. MSUM grabbed the momentum in the third quarter, outscoring the Golden Eagles 23-11 to take a 54-51 lead into the third quarter. Senior guard
Cassidy Thorson had six points in the quarter while Hintz had five and freshman guard
Kiley Borowicz had four.
A three by Thorson at the 7:26 mark of the fourth gave MSUM its largest lead at 59-53. But the Dragons would go the next four minutes without a point as UMC went on an 8-0 run to take a 61-59 lead. The game was tied at 65-65 after a basket from freshman guard
Lauren Fech with 1:08 left. The Dragons had two shots at regaining the lead but missed; the Golden Eagles hit 3-of-4 foul shots in the final 11 seconds to ice the four-point win.
Thorson had nine points and five boards while Fech had eight points on 4-of-4 shooting.
MSUM hosts Bemidji State at 4 p.m. on Saturday to wrap up the weekend.
Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: Tonight snapped the Dragons' five-game home winning streak over Minnesota Crookston. The last time the Golden Eagles defeated the Dragons in Moorhead prior to tonight, was when they posted a 67-59 decision on Dec. 20, 2011.
