The Northern Sun has now been at it for almost a month and everybody’s got 5 o r 6 games under their belt. So far, it’s been a year of surprises. You may recall that Minnesota State (Mankato) and UMD were heavily favored in the pre-season coaches’ polls–UMD #1 and Mankato #2 among the men, and just the reverse among the women. Well, among the men, Mankato is indeed tied for 1st place with the other Minnesota State (Moorhead) at 5-0 and 11-0. But among the women, Mankato is in 3rd place at 5-1 and UMD is 4th at 4-2. Northern State, picked for 10th, is 5-0 and Concordia-St. Paul, picked for 7th, is 2nd at 5-1.
CSP women 69 UMD 60
So, whether Concordia’s win over UMD at home last night (Thursday December 14) was an upset or not is in the eye of the beholder, but it appears not to be a fluke. UMD never led, though it was tied through 13-all late in the 1st period. CSP pulled ahead 15-13 at the 1st quarter break on a bucket in the paint by Lindsey Becher. This would be a theme, as Becher led all scorers with 17 points and CSP outscored UMD in the paint 44-32. In the 2nd quarter, CSP pulled ahead 27-20 and UMD got back within 29-26. In the 3rd CSP led by as many as 10 but UMD got within 59-55 with 1:45 left in the game. But CSP closed the game with a 10-2 run as Becher made her final FG of the night (in the paint) and the Golden Bears finished by making 8-of-10 FT. The win moved CSP into a tie with Mankato in 2nd place in the NSIC at 5-1, and dropped UMD, the defending champions, into a 4th place tie. The win also gave the Bears an 18-17 series edge since the year 2000.
Along with 17 points from Becher, a 6-1 junior from Mounds View, CSP also got 15 points off the bench from Lauren Wilson, a 6-0 freshman from Iowa, 13 from Ally Gietzel, a 6-0 senior from Wisconsin, and 10 from Leah Dengerud, a 5-9 sophomore from Totino-Grace. UMD was led by a pair of grad students–Madelyn Granica, 5-11 from Wisconsin, with 15 and Taytum Rhoades, 5-9 from Minnehaha Academy, with 14. The 2 of them shot 12-of-28. Their teammates shot 12-of-36.
UMD men 92 CSP 69
There was no surprise on the men’s side as UMD won easily to extend its winning streak in this series to 8 games. CSP led 2-0 and 5-4, but UMD then ran out to a 37-12 lead. CSP got within 14 in the 2nd half, but UMD the pulled away to its biggest lead at 92-65. UMD got a big game from Drew Blair with 26 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Austin Andrews added 21 points and 8 boards, Jack Middleton 17 and 4 assists and Josh Brown 16 points and 8 boards. (Blair is a 6-5 grad student and hails from Wisconsin. Andrews is a 6-6 senior from Eden Prairie, Middleton a 6-5 grad from Edina, and Brown a 6-4 grad from Park Center.) CSP got 13 points from Marcus Skeete, a 6-5 junior from Illinois, and 10 from Jappanah Kellogg, a 6-8 junior from Iowa.
UMD dominated the team stats, too, of course, grabbing 16 offensive boards and turning it over just 9 times while CSP had 7 offensive boards and 15 turnovers. As a result, UMD had a 23-5 edge in points off turnovers and a 16-5 edge in 2nd chance points. UMD scored 56 points in the paint, CSP exactly half that many.
Where We Stand on December 15
NSIC Men–1. Minnesota State (Mankato) and Minnesota State (Moorhead) 5-0, 3. UMD and Minot State 4-1, 5. Winona State 4-2, 6. Bemidji State and Northern State 3-2. The rest are at .500 or below. Minot and Winona were picked 9th and 10th.
NSIC Women–1. Northern 5-0, 2. Concordia St. Paul and Minnesota State (Mankato) 5-1, 4. UMD, Mary and Southwest State 4-2, 7. St. Cloud State and Minnesota-Crookston 3-2. Northern was picked for 10th place, Concordia 7th and Crookston 13th.