Top four seeds advance to UMAC women's basketball tournament semifinals

Top four seeds advance to UMAC women's basketball tournament semifinals

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ST. PAUL, Minn.---The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) women’s basketball tournament got off to a hot start as the top-seeded teams all used solid wins in the opening quarterfinals Thursdays to move on to the semifinal round Saturday.
 
The evening started off with the top two seeds winning in impressive fashion with No. 2 University of Northwestern defeating No. 7 College of St. Scholastica 76-54 and No. 1 North Central University taking down No. 8 Crown College 87-54. The final two contests were more closely contested with No. 4 University of Minnesota Morris using a late-game surge to take down No. 5 University of Wisconsin-Superior 73-67 and No. 3 Bethany Lutheran College holding off No. 6 Martin Luther College 75-64.

Tournament Championship Page | Bracket |

No. 1 North Central def. No. 8 Crown, 87-54 | Box Score | 
No. 8 Crown gave top-seeded No. 1 North Central everything it had in the first half trailing by just nine points at the half before the Rams opened it up in the third quarter outscoring the Storm 32-10 en route to a win and the semifinal round of the tournament. 
  • The Rams took advantage of the Storm in close scoring 52 points in the paint. North Central also tallied 23 points off of 22 Storm turnovers and held them to just 28.8 percent shooting from the field.
  • Five Rams scored in double figures with Naomi Hagstrom leading with 24 points thanks to a 6-of-12 performance from beyond the arc. Emily DiGiorgio tallied a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double. 
  • McKenzie Latzke led the Storm with 15 points with all of her points coming from 3-point range. Dominique Urbina also added 12 points, four steals and three assists.

No. 2 Northwestern def. No. 7 St. Scholastica, 76-54 | Box Score |
No. 2 Northwestern used strong defense to take advantage of No. 7 St. Scholastica mistakes – as well as a solid shooting performance – to cruise to an impressive win that puts the Eagles into the semifinal round to host again Saturday. 
  • The Eagles forced the Saints into 22 turnovers and scored 25 points off of turnovers as well as 14 fastbreak points. From the field, the Eagles also shot 46.6 percent. 
  • Brooklyn DeKam scored a game-high 24 points in favor of the Eagles and was 4-for-7 from beyond the arc. Three other players scored in double figures including Megan Roberts who was 8-of-8 shooting with 17 points. 
  • Kaylee Kennedy led the Saints with 18 points and five rebounds. Liz Frase added 11 points and was 5-of-10 from the field.

No. 3 Bethany Lutheran def. No. 6 Martin Luther, 75-64 | Box Score |
In a closely contested contest, No. 6 Martin Luther gave rival No. 3 Bethany Lutheran all it had as it remained within five points at the half and outscored the Vikings 20-19 in the third quarter before the Vikings finished on a 21-14 run to pull away for the quarterfinal win.  
  • The Vikings impressed offensively shooting 50.9 percent from the field with 44 points coming in the paint. The reigning tournament champs also converted 16-of-22 chances at the charity stripe while the Knights were just 8-of-13. 
  • Hanna Geistfeld recorded 25 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field and 90of-10 from the line. She also added eight rebounds and five assists, while Abby Olson scored 19 points with four assists. 
  • Erika Gosch led the Knights with 23 points while Emily Witkowksi scored 15 points with four rebounds and five assists. 

No. 4 Minnesota Morris def. No. 5 Wisconsin-Superior, 73-67 | Box Score |
No. 5 Wisconsin-Superior went up less than four minutes into the game and didn't surrender the lead until there were less than four minutes remaining in the game. Unfortunately, they couldn't come back in falling to No. 4 Minnesota Morris in a closely-contested quarterfinal.  
  • The Cougars outscored the Yellowjackets 28-15 in the final 10 minutes of the game to claim the win. In a game that was nearly even for both teams in many aspects, the Cougars' eight-made 3-pointers proved to be a difference-maker in the win. 
  • Lexus Eagle Chasing tied as the games' leading scorer putting away 22 points for the Cougars and also tallied five rebounds and three steals. Jadyn Sondrol added 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc.
  • Kaelyn Christian tied for the game-high scoring total with 22 points, while Mady Sanders recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10rebounds. 

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
**Game times vary due to institutional COVID-19 protocols and schools hosting multiple games. 
Quarterfinal Round – Thursday, March 4
  • No. 1 North Central def. No. 8 Crown, 87-54 | Box Score | 
  • No. 2 Northwestern def. No. 7 St. Scholastica, 76-54 | Box Score |
  • No. 3 Bethany Lutheran def. No. 6 Martin Luther, 75-64 | Box Score |
  • No. 4 Minnesota Morris def. No. 5 Wisconsin-Superior, 73-67 | Box Score |
 
Semifinal Round – Saturday, March 6
  • No. 4 Minnesota Morris AT No. 1 North Central, Minneapolis, Minn., 7 p.m.  | Live Stats | Live Video |
  • No. 3 Bethany Lutheran AT No. 2 Northwestern, St. Paul, Minn., 4:30 p.m.  | Live Stats | Live Video |
 
Championship – Monday, March 8
  • Lowest remaining seed at highest remaining seed; Location and time, TBD
 
SPECTATORS
Spectators will only be allowed at the discretion of each institution. | UMAC Institutional Spectator Policies |
 
Tournament Championship Page