Nov. 15, 2005
MAYVILLE, N.D. --Mayville State University guard Cassie Leraas posted
a career-high 36 points to vault the Comets past the Bemidji
State University women's basketball team, 94-89, Tuesday at
Lewy Lee Fieldhouse in Mayville, N.D. The sophomore spoiled
the Beavers' 2005-06 season-opener hitting 11-of-15 shots
(.733), six of which were three-pointers, and going 8-of-9
from the line.
Nicole Friend (Jr., G, International
Falls, Minn.) gave the Beavers a 3-0 lead out of the blocks
nailing her first shot of the season from behind the three-point
arc. But the lead would last just 2:09 as Kelly Latozke hit
a quick jumper and Leraas went 2-for-2 from the line.
The Beavers ended an MSU 13-4 run at the
14:47 mark when Melissa Roberts (Fr., G, Staples, Minn.) kick-started
a BSU 7-0 run gaining her first collegiate point from the
free-throw line. After a Karlee Simonson (So.,
F, Rockford, Minn.) jumper, Nichole Mazurek (Jr., F, Hurley,
Wis.) netter her first basket at BSU and hit a pair of free-throws
to give the Beavers a 14-13 lead with 13:08 to play in the
half.
But Leraas would again bring the Comets back
hitting a jumper to regain the lead.
During the next six minutes, MSU would outscore
BSU 18-7 to push their advantage to 32-21.
BSU responded by netting eight of the next
10 points to close the gap to 34-29 with 5:17 to go in the
half, But the Comets closed out the first half of play scoring
14 of the final 25 points to take an eight-point lead (48-40)
in the the locker rooms at the break.
After a quick Leraas trey out of the gates
gave the Comets an 11-point cushion, BSU came out to rattle
off the next 10 points to shrink the MSU lead to just one
point (51-50) 3:47 into the second half.
The Beavers clung to the hosts knotting the
score at 57-57 on a Colleen Boell (Fr., G,
Burnsville, Minn.) put-back and would take their first lead
of the game since just 5:58 into the first half on Boell's
first collegiate three-pointer with just under 13 minutes
to play.
MSU bounced back to score the next seven
points to go up 69-62 with 11 minutes left.
The Beavers would claw back to within a basket
73-71 with 8:30 to go, but the Comets were just too strong
down the stretch and powered through to a 94-89 victory.
In addition to Leraas, three other MSU players
recorded double-digit point totals. Steph Meggers added 19
points and a game-high 12 rebounds while Matthews and Latozke
contributed 14 and 11 respectively.
Junior guard Maggie Gernbacher
(Bloomington, Minn.) paced a quartet of BSU players scoring
at least 10 points with 19 including four three-pointers.
Boell posted a career-best 17 while Nancy McConkey
(So., F, Superior, Wis.) collected 13 points and seven rebounds
and Roberts posted 12 in her BSU debut. Sophomore post player
Stephanie Peterson (Bismarck, N.D.) led all
BSU players on the glass grabbing nine rebounds.
The fall to 0-1 on the season as Mike Curfman
dropped his Bemidji State women's basketball coaching debut.
The beavers will be back in action this weekend then they
travel to St.Paul, Minn. to participate in Concordia-St. Paul's
Radisson-St. Paul Tournament. BSU will open the event versus
the University of Minnesota-Duluth on Friday at 12:00 p.m.
and will battle Upper Iowa University the following afternoon
(Nov. 19). All games will be played at the Gangelhoff Center
on the campus of Concordia-St. Paul.
