Story by: Zach Koenig
Morris, MN—Despite holding a two-point lead with just a minute left to play, the University of Minnesota-Morris women’s basketball team fell 71-66 to Northland College on Saturday.
Four Cougars surpassed the double-digit mark in points scored during the contest: Tynell Kocer (Jr. Pierre, SD) with 17, Arielle Anderson (Sr. Wayzata, MN) with 12, Marissa Maynard (Sr. Blaine, MN) with 11, and Alaina Benson (Sr. Clinton, MN) with 10.
Both Benson and Kara Norris (So. Zimmerman, MN) pulled down seven boards in the losing effort, and every other Cougar had at least two rebounds.
The Cougars jumped out to an early 11-6 lead in the contest, only to see Northland College slowly build a six-point lead of their own (19-13) with 10:15 remaining.
UMM pulled to within two points (21-19) of Northland after a three-point shot from Benson at 9:22, but saw the visitors’ lead again expand to 27-21 at 4:26.
Two free-throws from Benson drew the Cougars to within three points (28-25) with 3:06 on the clock, but Northland extended the lead yet again, this time to 37-29 as the first half drew to a close.
Kocer (nine points) and Benson (eight) led the first-half scoring for UMM. Maynard snared four rebounds, while both Norris and Kocer grabbed three.
Despite consecutive Northland three-pointers to open the second half that put the Cougar deficit at 43-29, Minnesota-Morris got points from Coresa Leighty (Jr. New Ulm, MN), Kristie Swenstad (So. Osakis, MN), and Norris to pull within four points (46-42) at 11:55.
UMM remained just a few points back for the next couple of minutes. Three times—thanks to points from Kocer, Anderson, and Maynard—the Cougars pulled to within one point.
Minnesota-Morris finally evened the score (62-62) on a free-throw from Maynard at 2:55. Two free-throws from Leighty then gave UMM a 64-62 lead with 1:24 remaining.
A three-pointer from Northland’s Jessica Graham, however, gave the visitors a lead they would not relinquish in the closing 60 seconds. A layup from Diane Blommel (Fr. Grey Eagle, MN) that brought the Cougars to within two points (68-66) with 14 seconds remaining could not be capitalized on and Northland extended its lead to 71-66 at the buzzer.
The Cougars shot at a 22-55 (40%) clip from the floor during the contest, compared to 31% for Northland College, but were outscored 16-12 in points coming off of turnovers.
With the loss, UMM dropped to 14-10 overall and 8-5 in UMAC play.
The Cougars next host Presentation College on Tuesday, February 19, at 5:30 p.m. in the final regular-season UMAC and home contest for Minnesota-Morris.
 | .jpg) |
| Minnesota-Morris | 29 | 37 | 0 | 66 |
| Northland College | 37 | 34 | 0 | 71 |
Box Score
