The Cougars blew open a close game with an 8-0 run to start the third quarter.
MORRIS, Minn.– The University of Minnesota Morris women’s basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the UMAC Tournament on Wednesday night with a 64-47 win over the University of Wisconsin-Superior, completing a season sweep of the Yellowjackets. The Cougars improve to 12-14 overall on the season.
Minnesota Morris got off to a rocky start and used a timeout after an 8-0 run from UW-Superior opened up a 12-4 lead for the visitors. The Cougars got back-to-back threes from Jadyn Sondrol to bring the deficit back to two, but then didn’t for the last two minutes of the first quarter, allowing the Yellowjackets to build a 17-10 lead.
An immediate 9-0 run to open the second quarter gave Minnesota Morris its first lead of the night. Lexus Eagle Chasing had six of the points in that stretch, while Haley Wollschlager had a three-point play as well. The final tie of the game came at 24-24 before Sondrol scored to put the Cougars ahead. Ella Van Kempen then extended the lead. In the final seconds of the half, Malory Anderson did the dirty work down low to fight off a crowd for an offensive rebound and put in a layup just before the horn, giving the Cougars a 31-26 advantage.
Eagle Chasing again played a key part of another big Minnesota Morris run to start the third quarter. Eagle Chasing had six of the eight points for the Cougars in that stretch to open up a 39-26 lead on the Yellowjackets. The final time that UW-Superior had the UMN Morris under 10 points came at 39-30, but Sondrol and Lexie Winter connected on triples on consecutive possessions to make it 45-30.
Defense took care of the rest for Minnesota Morris. UW-Superior never got closer than 12 points in the fourth quarter and the Yellowjackets weren’t able to put the Cougars into foul trouble either, not shooting a free throw in the final frame. After shooting 7-of-17 in the first quarter to open up the early lead, UW-Superior was held to 11-of-51 shooting the rest of the way.
Eagle Chasing finished the night with a double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds. Sondrol added 18 points and seven rebounds.
Minnesota Morris heads to Mankato on Friday night for a matchup with the No. 1 seed, Bethany Lutheran College. The Cougars and Vikings will get the UMAC semifinals started at 7 p.m.
