Bulldogs Take Golden Bears In Return To The NSIC

DULUTH, Minn. - The Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth claimed a 68-60 win over Concordia University in the first NSIC meeting between the teams in five years.  The Golden Bears fall to 12-5 overall and 4-5 in the league, while UMD improves to 7-8 on the season and 4-4 in the NSIC. Concordia got off to a rocky start at Romano Gymnasium on Saturday evening, hitting only one field goal through ten minutes of play.  With the help of defensive stops and poor UMD shooting, however, the Golden Bears kept the damage to a minimum, trailing 14-2. Kelly Supernaw took a dish from Zoraa Quoie and drained a long range shot to end the CU scoring drought at the nine minute mark.  Concordia got back to a two posession game as free throws, field goals and a Gillian Bjerke triple set the score at 18-14 with five minutes to play in the first.  The Bulldogs scored six of the last seven points in the half to lead 28-18 at the intermission.  The Golden Bears out-rebounded the Bulldogs 24-20 in the half, but shot only 18.5% from the field. The second period of the NSIC matchup saw the Golden Bears out-score Minnesota Duluth 42-40 thanks to much improved shooting.  Concordia out-played their opponent on the glass in the second period as well, pulling down 23 boards to UMD's 16.  The Golden Bears pulled in to within five points several times late in the period, receiving multiple field goals from leading scorers Quoie and Candace Olstad. Minnesota Duluth took advantage of Concordia fouls and hit 15 of their 17 second period free throw attempts, spelling the difference in the game.  UMD shot 41.8% in the game compared to CU's 29.5%. Leading the Golden Bears in scoring on Saturday evening was Quoie with 15 points.  Jamie Jones scored 12 points, followed by C. Olstad with ten points, all scored in the second half.  The team took a sizeable 47-36 rebounding advantage, marking the first time in 2008-09 that the Golden Bears dropped a game when out-rebounding their opponent.  Bjerke had ten boards. Jheri Booker did the most damage for the Bulldogs, hitting 8-of-17 field goals on her way to 20 points.  Stephanie Reiter connected on four three-pointers and finished with 14 points.  Several players tied for the rebounding lead with six each. The Golden Bears return to the Gangelhoff Center next weekend, hosting #5 Minnesota State on Friday and Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday.