Box Score

ABERDEEN, S.D. – University of Minnesota-Duluth junior Lindsay Miller drilled seven treys and finished with a game-high 27 points to lead the Bulldogs past Northern State University 73-65 Saturday evening in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference women's basketball action.

The loss is NSU's third in the last four games and drops the Wolves to 6-4 overall and an even 3-3 on conference play.  UMD also moved to 6-4 on the year but improved to 4-2 in the loop with the calendar year-ending victory.

The Wolves found themselves down early and were facing a nine-point deficit with under five minutes left in the first half before barging their way back into contention by intermission.  The Wolves scored nine straight points in two and a half minutes to tie the game, but UMD's Katrina Newman hit back-to-back buckets in the lane to give the Bulldogs the slight 34-32 edge heading into the break.

UMD came charging out of the gates to start the second half, using a 13-2 run to turn a two-point lead into a 13-point cushion in the first four minutes of the stanza.  Miller was good for eight of those points, all eight coming on three strait Bulldog possessions.

Undeterred, the Wolves again fought back and cut the lead to one after an Emily Becken trey in front of the NSU bench made it a 62-61 game with 2:47 left on the clock.

The Bulldogs put the clamps on at that point and allowed just one field goal and a pair of Alison Kusler free throws the rest of the way and converting on six of seven free throw attempts in the final minute of the game to escape with the win.

Becken was 3 of 5 from long range in her best offensive outing of the season to date.  The junior finished with 19 points, while senior center Krista Rabenberg led the way with a season-best 20 points, 13 of which came in the first half.  Senior Jodi Reinschmidt added another 10 points.

The Bulldogs managed to hold junior forward Mikayla Barondeau to just four points and two rebounds on the night and sent the Wolves to the free throw line just nine times.  Barondeau did finish with eight assists.

Besides Miller's 27-point outing, UMD also got 19 points from freshman Katrina Newman and another 17 from senior forward Kelsey Hewitt.  Hewitt also had nine rebounds and was 6-for-6 from the free throw line.  The Bulldogs, who held a slight 26-22 edge in rebounding, used 11 offensive boards to win the battle of second chance points by a 19-2 margin.

Saturday's game marks the end of the 2010 portion of the schedule.  NSU is off for the Christmas holiday and resumes NSIC play on Jan. 1 with a pair of road games at Upper Iowa and Winona State.