(Pictured right-Alaina Benson
Story by: Zach Koenig
Morris, MN—Down by one point with just .06 tenths of a second left on the clock, Alaina Benson (Sr. Clinton, MN) took an inbounds pass from Tynell Kocer (Jr. Pierre, SD) and sank the layup, giving the University of Minnesota-Morris women’s basketball team the 54-53 victory over Northwestern College on Saturday.
The victory kept the Cougars in a first place tie (6-1) atop the UMAC standings.
Leading scorers for UMM in the contest in were Marissa Maynard (Sr. Blaine, MN) with 12 points, and Jamie Rainey (Jr. Maple Grove, MN) and Kocer with 10 points apiece. Rainey added seven steals in the game as well.
Down early in the first half 15-7, the Cougars were sparked by eight consecutive points from Maynard, eventually evening the score at 22-22 with a Kocer three-pointer with 5:43 remaining. A jumper from Coresa Leighty (Jr. New Ulm, MN) kept the score even at 27-27 with 2:49 left on the clock, but at the gun the Cougars found themselves down by four points at 31-27.
Rainey and Maynard led the first half scoring with eight points apiece, while Arielle Anderson (Sr. Wayzata, MN) pulled down three boards.
The visitors increased their lead to 10 points early in the second half, but the Cougars cut the lead to one (47-46) thanks to a Leighty jumper.
With Northwestern leading 53-50 and only 41 seconds remaining, Kocer kept Minnesota-Morris’s hopes alive by sinking two free-throws. The visitors had held the lead the entire second half until Benson’s conversion with .06 left.
Kocer (7 points) and Leighty (6 points) led the second-half scoring for UMM, while Maynard had four rebounds and Kristie Swanstad (So. Osakis, MN) had two.
Benson scored on a jumper with 8:03 to play in the first half to give her four points in the game and put her over the 900 point mark in her career. She finished the game with six points and six assists and now has 903 points in her career with nine games left in the regular season. The senior is averaging just over 14 points per game and if she continues her average, will have a great chance to go over the 1,000 point mark in her career at home the weekend of February 15th & 16th.
The Cougars were 21-56 (37.5%) shooting from the floor during the contest, and saw their strong bench outscore Northwestern 16-8. Of the 21 made field goals, the Cougars had 18 assists.
The Cougar women have now won seven of their last eight and nine of 11 ball games and have not lost at home since a six point, 80-74 loss on November 27 to Mayville State.
UMM next travels to Trinity Bible College on Tuesday, January 29, for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.
 |  |
| Minnesota-Morris | 27 | 27 | 0 | 54 |
| Northwestern College | 31 | 22 | 0 | 53 |
Box Score
