Women's Basketball
Women's Basketball
Women's NSIC Tournament First Round: #6 SCSU 61, #3 MSUM 48
Women's Hoops Upsets MSUM in NSIC/Sanford Quarterfinal
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Aaryn Booker |
Moorhead, Minn. – The sixth seed St. Cloud State women’s basketball team pulled a first round upset in the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament with a 61-48 win over number three seed Minnesota State University, Moorhead Wednesday night at Alex Nemzek Hall.
St. Cloud State won its 20th game of the season and is 20-8 overall. The 20 wins marks the first 20-win season since 2005-06 and the tenth in the history of SCSU women’s basketball that dates back to the 1968-69 season. MSU Moorhead is 21-7 overall. The Dragons are ranked fourth in the NCAA Division II Central Region released today while the Huskies are ranked ninth.
The Huskies advance to the semifinals of the tournament and will play #2 seed Winona State University on Saturday in Winona. The Warriors were 79-61 winners over Wayne State. #1 seed Minnesota State University, Mankato was upset by #8 seed Concordia, St. Paul, 86-77 in overtime. The last quarterfinal game to be played featured #5 Minnesota Duluth at #4 Augustana College. The UMD/AC winner will play Concordia, St. Paul in Winona in the other semifinal Saturday.
St. Cloud State senior guard Katie Tacheny (Woodbury) led the Huskies with 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists. First year post Aaryn Booker (Minneapolis) came off the bench to score 14 points and six rebounds, just two points shy of her career high 16 points. Sophomore guard Talisha Barlow (Little Canada) added 13 points and five rebounds. The Huskies, after a poor first half shooting, improved to 39.3 percent shooting in the game. In addition, SCSU out rebounded the Dragons 43-41.
Minnesota State University, Moorhead was led by Chris Falzon with 16 points. Alison Nash-Gerlach had a double double with 14 points and 15 rebounds. The Dragons shot 30.6 percent from the field.
The Huskies and Dragons exchanged baskets in the first four minutes of the game and a steal and a layup by St. Cloud State guard Katie Tacheny tied the game 8-8, at the 15:27 mark. The Huskies went ahead of the Dragons, 10-8 on a baseline drive and basket by senior guard Anna Cashman (Faribault) with 14:50 on the clock.
The Huskies maintained a lead for the rest of the half as the Dragons would close to two points three times leading up to the intermission. A Tacheny three with 4:09 on the clock put the Huskies up 23-18. MSUM’s Krista Opheim scored the next basket, a layup to close to 23-20. Sophomore guard Talisha Barlow (Little Canada) answered from the inside and SCSU went up 25-20. The Dragons Chris Falzon made two free throws with 1:33 on the clock . First year forward Aaryn Booker (Minneapolis) closed out the first half scoring to give the Huskies a 27-22 lead at half time.
Both teams shot poorly in the half as the Huskies came out ahead in field goal shooting at 33.3 percent and the Dragons finished the half shooting 29.0 percent. A combined 17 turnovers were committed with the Dragons committing nine. Tacheny led all players with ten first half points.
St.Cloud State would control the second half of the game and improve its shooting. The Huskies scored the first six points of the second half on back to back baskets from senior guard Krystal Scott (Rosemount) and a basket from sophomore post Rachel Booth (Minneapolis) to take a 33-22 lead at 17:27. Alison Nash-Gerlach gave the Dragons their first points of the half at 16:03.
The Huskies answered with baskets by Tacheny and Barlow, and a three from Tacheny that forced a MSUM timeout with 13:53 on the clock and the Huskies leading 40-24. The Huskies went on to lead by as many as 18 poihnts, 56-38 at the 4:10 mark after Barlow scored on a layup. The Dragons closed the gap to 11 points in the final four minutes, the first time on a three-point basket by Falzon and again on a Falzon jumper with under a minute to play.
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