Story by: Zach Koenig
Morris, MN—Despite trailing for nearly the entire contest, the University of Minnesota-Morris women’s basketball team put together a remarkable 12-0 run to end the game and defeat Presentation College 66-61 on Tuesday.
The victory gave the Cougars the third seed in this weekend’s UMAC postseason tournament at Northwestern College in St. Paul.
Coresa Leighty (Jr. New Ulm, MN), 15 points, Marissa Maynard (Sr. Blaine, MN), 14 points, and Alaina Benson (Sr. Clinton, MN), 10 points, led the scoring effort for UMM.
Benson grabbed seven rebounds in the contest, while both Leighty and Jamie Rainey (Jr. Maple Grove, MN) had six and Tynell Kocer (Jr. Pierre, SD) had five. Every other Cougar player had at least one rebound
The opening minutes of the first half were not kind to UMM, as Presentation built a 13-3 lead.
A jump-shot from Kristie Swenstad (So. Osakis, MN) cut the deficit to 15-8 with 12:59 remaining, but by 5:04 the visitors had regained a firm 34-18 lead.
UMM caught fire at the end of the half, however, going on a 9-2 run. A layup from Leighty put the halftime score at 36-27 in favor of Presentation.
Swenstad’s eight points led the first half scoring for the Cougars, while Maynard and Rainey pulled down four boards apiece.
Two layups from Leighty and two free-throw shots from Benson gave Minnesota-Morris the first six points of the second half, moving the home team to within three points (36-33).
A three-point shot from Maynard put the Cougars within a single point (41-40) at 12:45, but within minutes Presentation took a commanding 53-43 lead once again.
UMM again clawed its way back into the game, moving to within three points (61-58) following a Benson layup and then trimming the deficit to one point (61-60) after two Benson free-throws.
The Cougars finally tied the score at 2:15 on a free-throw from Kocer.
After two miscues—a missed three-pointer and two missed free throws—by Presentation, Maynard’s layup at 1:00 gave UMM its first lead of the contest, 63-61. A Presentation turnover allowed Maynard to swish another layup with 33 seconds remaining to increase the lead to 65-61.
A free-throw from Rainey provided the final 66-61 score. The Cougars scored the final 12 points of the contest.
Both Leighty and Maynard scored 11 points in the second half, followed by Benson with eight points. Kocer had four boards in the second half and Kara Norris (So. Zimmerman, MN) had three.
The Cougars shot 26-58 (44.8%) from the floor compared to Presentation’s 34.5%. UMM also outscored Presentation 42-20 in the paint and 27-12 off the bench.
The victory gave the Cougars a regular season record of 15-10 overall and 9-5 in the UMAC.
 |  |
| Minnesota-Morris | 27 | 39 | 0 | 66 |
| Presentation College | 36 | 25 | 0 | 61 |
Box Score
