The Bemidji State University women’s basketball team fell 73-48 to St. Cloud State University Saturday in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game. The contest, played on senior night, wrapped up regular season play and was the last collegiate home game for seniors Emily Kaus (C, Eagan, Minn.) and Shannon Thompson (G, Rosemount, Minn.).
The Beavers, who finished seventh in the NSIC North, will travel to Mankato, Minn. Feb. 27 to play Minnesota State University, Mankato in the first round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Women’s Basketball Tournament at 6 p.m.. BSU will be the No. 7 seed out of the NSIC North and will battle MSU, who holds the No. 2 spot in the NSIC South.
BSU shot just 32.1 percent from the floor. The Beavers had 14 turnovers that led to 14 SCSU points. Eleven offensive rebounds by the Huskies turned into 12 second chance points. Junior Morgan Lee (G, Hayward, Minn.) led BSU with 14 points and four assists, while Kaus added 10 points and sophomore Melissa Youngblut (G/F, Davenport, Iowa) posted seven points and a team-high seven rebounds off the bench.
The Beavers started the contest with a two-point lead that quickly became a 2-2 tie. The teams then tied once more over a minute later. With 17:34 left in the first half the Huskies took a lead that they kept for the rest of the game.
A layup started a seven point run for SCSU and a scoreless 3:20 for Bemidji State that was interrupted by two free throws from Lee and BSU trailed 11-6. For the next seven minutes BSU kept up with the Huskies, never getting behind more than nine points, but with 7:05 left in the half St. Cloud State took a double-digit lead during a scoreless 2:47 for the Beavers.
Youngblut made the final basket of the half, a 3-pointer with 43 seconds in play, but the home team trailed 34-22.
The second half started out promising for the Beavers, who scored 11 points in the first five minutes. With 15:05 left in the half SCSU started a 7-0 run that lasted almost two minutes. The stretch ended with a jumper from Lanae Rash (Jr., G, Milwaukee, Wis.) who brought the score to 54-35. With 7:27 left on the clock BSU started a scoreless 4:23 where the Huskies were able to sink seven points and really pull away. A bucket from Lee cut their run short, with BSU trialing 67-46. A layup from Youngblut closed the game, 73-48, and ended Bemidji State’s regular season.