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Box Score
Morris, Minn. – The Minnesota, Morris women's basketball team ran out to a 20-point halftime lead on their way to a 65-52 victory over visiting Northwestern this evening (Jan. 14).
After a slow start by both teams, the Cougars opened up a 13-0 lead before the Eagles finally got on the board at the 10:51 mark of the first half. UMM led by double digits the rest of the half, and three different times had their lead out to 20 points.
The Cougars (6-6, 2-0 UMAC) held the Eagles (5-8, 1-1 UMAC) to just a 3-of-22 (14%) shooting mark from the field in the first half, while hitting 13-of-30 (43%) of their own field goals as they mounted their lead. For the game, Northwestern finished just 15-of-50 (30%) from the field, while UMM was 27-of-56 (48%).
It looked early as if each team would struggle with the score stuck at 2-0 over five minutes into the game, but after an Alyssa Silva (Maple Grove, Minn.) three-pointer put UMM up 5-0 at the 14:30 mark, the Cougars began to roll.
And once they got on a roll they were paced by Steph Roggenbuck (Osakis, Minn.), who had maybe her most balanced game of the season. She tallied her second double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, with five boards on each side of the court, and an 8-of-16 shooting mark from the floor. She made the only three-pointer she took, and went perfect 2-of-2 in her only trip the line. Along with all that, she dished out a game high six assists.
Outside of a nine-and-eight performance in the second game of the season, Roggenbuck has scored in double figures in every other game this season. Entering the game sixth in the league in scoring at 15.0 points per game, she was second only to Northwestern's Megan Myhre in field goal percentage with a .538 mark to Myhre's .544. Tonight Myhre was held to just six points on 2-of-9 from the field.
Also scoring in double figures was Jenni Noordmans (Hancock, Minn.) who scored the Cougars final six points of the first half on her way to 15 on the night, her second best performance of the season. Noordmans also added four rebounds, and was one of five players with at least four, as the Cougars out-rebounded the Eagles 36-to-22, the least they've allowed all season.
While UMM controlled the boards, they also controlled the scoring in the paint, to the tune of a 34-to-12 margin.
Part of that control in the low post was Emily Mehr (Aitkin, Minn.) who joined the scoring leaders with 10 points, including a three-pointer to open scoring in the second half and stretch the Cougars lead to 23. Three minutes later, a lay-up from Noordmans pushed the lead to its biggest of the night at 24, with the score 43-19.
The Cougars saw 13 different players take the court in the game, with eight factoring into the scoring. With 15 consecutive wins in UMAC play, they are joined only by Northland as the 2011 unbeatens. The Cougars will look to make it 3-0 in league play and get back above the .500 mark on the season when they host Crown at 3:00 p.m. on Jan. 15, back on Jim Gremmels Court.
