Beavers top Cougars for first win during Home Opener

Bemidji State earned its first win with a 79-51 win over Minnesota Morris during the team’s Home Opener Tuesday

Bemidji State University Women’s Basketball took home its first win of the season in a 79-51 match up against University of Minnesota Morris for the first home game of the season. Rachel Koenig led the team in scoring for the second time this season.

The Beavers took an early lead over the Cougars in the first quarter and remained on top for the entirety of the game. Senior guard Erin Barrette got the scoring started for the Green and White with a quick layup 57 seconds into the matchup. This was followed up by seven straight points from forward Rachel Koenig, three points off of free throws and four in the paint. The Beavers ended the first with a 13- point lead, 27-14, after a last second buzzer beater off a throw-in steal from Barrette. An early turnover from UMM’s Itzel Salazar led to the Beavers increasing their lead with a fastbreak layup from Barrette, marking it 29-14 to start the quarter. The team would end up leaving the first half with the same lead as the first quarter, 13 points at 39-26.

BSU increased its lead in the third quarter to 23 points, led by forward Ella Giorgi with six points. A three-point basket from Janette Hanni 54 seconds into the fourth was followed by a two-minute stretch of scoring for the Cougars where the Beavers allowed six points, four of which came from free throws. The Beavers didn’t back down and created a lead of 30 points for themselves in the final moments of the game. This would be decreased to a final lead of 28 points as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

Rachel Koenig marked her second game of being the leading scorer for the Beavers with 14 points off five baskets from the field and four free throws. Just behind Koenig were Erin Barrette, Ella Giorgi and Aubrey Heyer with 10 points apiece. Three Beavers tied for the top rebounding spot with Koenig, Giorgi and Brooke Thies, with four rebounds each. Koenig marked four offensive rebounds with Giorgi and Theis each grabbing one on offense and three on defense.

Turnovers from UMM led BSU to grab 12 total steals and 19 points off those turnovers. From the bench, the Beavers added 36 points to their total, around 45 percent of their total scoring. They added 12 off second chance attempts and another 12 on fast breaks. BSU shot .508 percent from the field, .444 at the three-point arc and .500 percent at the free-throw line.

Bemidji State earned its first win of the season after two losses in Michigan last weekend. They sit at 1-2 this season and have one more non-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matchup before starting NSIC play in December against University of Minnesota Crookston.

The Beavers now prepare to host the Valley City State University Vikings at noon on Saturday.