The 🏀 teams started the week a few states to the South to face members of 12 that's actually 10. The women were at the Blue Hawks and once again were slow out of the blocks, this time to the tune of an 18-5 deficit after one quarter. The next 10 minutes of the game helped them turn it around as they outscored Kansas by 12. The teams went tooth & nail the rest of the way but NDSU won the fourth quarter and in so doing, the game - 72-69. Heaven Hamling (14), Emily Dietz & Marie Olson (11) lead the balanced offensive output as 8 of the 10 players to get on the court put it through the hoop.
The one downside, aside from the start, was that it was the latest low-impact game by Michelle Gaislerova. After going off for 23 in the second game of the season she has been a far-cry from the leading scorer that she was last season. With all the new faces it's natural that some adjustment time would be required but she's scored all of three points in the last two so her production is going entirely in the wrong direction. With the conference season set to start on Saturday she'll be needed for the team to continue surprising the league!
As for the men, Tuesday's game served as a coming-out party for Jarius Cook. His career-high 22 points, combined with another 21 from Rocky Kreuser, helped them hang with the Frogs until the final minutes. Along with those two, Grant Nelson got his first start and responded with a 14 point night to round out the top scorers for the Bison. Of the 28 baskets that they scored, Sam Griesel assisted on 12 of them, tied for the 7th most in program history & most against a division 1 school. He's got a long way to go to be the same sort of natural point guard that Lawrence Alexander or Vinnie Shahid were but that's no fluke day and could be a sign of things to come!
With the long wait for sports resuming nearly complete, another Moorhead State standout received an accolade this week. This time it came for senior distance runner Nadir Yusuf in the form of the preseason Indoor Track Athlete of the Year for the Northern Sun. The Willmar graduate had already built up a nice resume with two conference championships as well as All-American honor.
He headlines a promising group of Track athletes for the Dragons.
Cobber pro Brandon Zylstra took advantage of a punt return mistake to score his first professional touchdown as Carolina got past Washington.
After the long, drawn-out Summer came the abbreviated preseason which gave way to the dismal display against one of the worst teams in the league to open the year. Minnesota did just enough to win the game but looked very much like a team that would be able to prevent their pick from going to the Bay. On Saturday they faced a step-up in class in Utah and went toe-to-toe with the perennial playoff team. That got them to their second win while showing that Anthony Edwards may well be the best player from the draft class - which is what the team needed to accomplish with that pick.
It also came with a price as KAT hurt his wrist and will now be out for a crucial stretch of games that began tonight with the Lakeless. A game that quickly became hard to watch and morphed to unwatchable not long after. It's a valuable experience with so many guys still early in their careers but will not be missed when the shoe is on the other foot and Minnesota becomes the team that can cruise to 30 point leads!
Fargo's team spent Saturday night in Sioux Falls. Despite Brennan Boynton going 29 of 30 on saves, Fargo wasn't able to muster the clutch gene this time but instead yielded an empty-net goal in the final minute to lose their second of the year in regulation, 2-0.
They'll next take the ice on Tuesday at home against Sioux City only to return to the Falls for a New Years Eve one-off.
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