BEMIDJI, Minn. – The Bemidji State University Women's Basketball team won its last home game of the regular season 81-77 against St. Cloud State University in overtime at the BSU Gymnasium Thursday night in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play. Trinity Yoder recorded her third double-double in three games and was one rebound shy of recording the first program triple-double.
Bemidji State finished the season 6-7 at home and improve to 8-17 overall on the season and 5-16 in the NSIC. The Huskies fell to 16-9 on the regular season and 13-8 in the conference. The Beavers snapped a three-game skid and defeated SCSU for the first time in three years.
St. Cloud State scored on its first five possessions aided by five offensive rebounds. The Beavers kept pace with them, even taking the lead once when made a jumper in the paint by Yoder. After holding a one-point lead late in the first quarter, the Huskies went on a 7-2 run to take the 20-14 lead after 10 minutes.
SCSU pulled ahead by seven after Jada Eggebrecht knocked down her third three-pointer of the night. Rachel Koenig ignited a BSU 10-point run after making her first collegiate three-pointer near the midway point of the second quarter. Koenig capped off the run as well to put Bemidji State up by three with a layup. Erin Barrette converted on her first three-point attempt to give the Beavers their largest lead of four at 31-27. To end the half, Yoder knotted the game up at 33 with a free throw and Brooke Theis swatted a shot as the halftime horn sounded.
In the first half, Yoder went off with 10 points and six assists, along with drawing five fouls. As a team, the Beavers went 11-for-24 (45.8%) from the field, 5-for-8 from deep and 6-for-8 from the free throw line. Katrina Theis and Eggebrecht both reached double-figures in scoring through first half for the Huskies as well with 12 and 13, respectively.
Coming out of the half, both teams traded a basket before St. Cloud State scored nine points unanswered to move ahead at 44-35 for their largest lead of the game. Barrette made another three to chip away at the lead, but the Huskies responded with a three. To end the quarter, BSU started another 10-point run of its own with two three-pointers from Isabel Majewski and one from Sam Pogatchnik to regain the advantage at 52-51. Yoder assisted Pogatchnik's three to earn her a double-double. As time expired in the third. Eggebrecht made a jumper to put SCSU up 53-52 going into the fourth.
After an almost a scoreless first two minutes of the final quarter, the Huskies made the first basket to go up three, before Majewski knocked down her fourth triple of the game bringing it back to even. St. Cloud State managed to pull ahead by four at 62-58 with four minutes left, but like how most of the game played out, the Beavers come right back. This time with a six-point run, four scored by Yoder with her layup at 2:07 to play pushing the Beavers in front at 64-62. Down the stretch, Dru Henning for SCSU tied the game up at 67 after going 1-for-2 at the line with 30 seconds left in regulation. Both teams had a chance to win in the closing seconds with Bemidji State just missing on a chance inside and then with just a few seconds left, the Beavers doubled Eggebrecht and her shot was short sending the game into overtime.
The lead changed hands three times in the first two minutes of overtime with the Beavers going up one after Majewski made another three. Koenig made a three throw to give BSU its largest lead of the game at five with 38 seconds to go. As time winded down, Eggebrecht made her fifth three-pointer for her 31stpoints of the game to cut the lead to one, before Yoder made two free throws to give Bemidji State a little breathing room. In the final 10 seconds, the Huskies got the ball to their best three-point shooter in Eggebrecht who was stuffed by Yoder and she then collected the ensuing rebound, her ninth of the game. Yoder capped the game off with a free throw to end the game with the Beavers claiming the 81-77 victory.
Yoder led the team with 24 points, her third game in a row with over 20 points, as she went 7-for-16 from the floor and 10-for-15 from the free throw line. Coming off the bench, Majewski was the Beavers' second-highest scorer with 17, 15 points coming from threes and two from free throws. Pogatchnik and Koenig also finished in double-figures in scoring with 15 and 10, respectively. Yoder assisted on a career-high 15 baskets, for her fourth double-double of the season.
The Beavers were out rebounded 44-38 with SCSU coming away with 19 offensive rebounds totaling in 33 points second-chance points, compared to BSU's 11 offensive rebounds and eight second-chance points. Yoder fell one rebound short of recording the program's first triple-double. Pogatchnik was right behind her with eight rebounds. Koenig recorded her 20th block of the season after swatting two shots in the game for her third multiblock game. Ashley Sawicki of St. Cloud State totaled five of her teams six blocks.
The Beavers end their 2022-23 season Saturday as they travel to No. 11 University of Minnesota, Duluth starting at 3 p.m. The Bulldogs came away with a big win over University of Minnesota, Crookston 99-52 tonight.
For more information on the Bemidji State women's basketball program, follow the Beavers on Twitter (@BSUBeavers), like them on Facebook (facebook.com/BSUBeavers) or sign up for the TXTUpdates from BSUBeavers.com text-messaging system through the "Multimedia" pull down menu on the main page of BSUBeavers.com.
Located on the shore of Lake Bemidji, Bemidji State University sponsors 15 varsity athletic programs with NCAA Division I men's hockey membership in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and women's hockey membership in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, while its 13 NCAA Division II programs hold membership in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).
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