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Grand Forks Herald
Minnesota Crookston pulls off stunner, beats UND for first time in program history
- Story byGrand Forks Herald
- Minnesota Crookston pulls off stunner, beats UND for first time in program history
Nov. 2—GRAND FORKS — Minnesota Crookston was picked to finish 15th in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference's preseason poll.
The Golden Eagles entered their season opener at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center with a 0-10 all-time record against UND. Before Monday night, UMC hadn't played the Fighting Hawks since 2009.
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The Golden Eagles made the most of their opportunity, beating UND for the first time in program history with an 81-68 stunner.
They trailed for just 1 minute, 27 seconds all night.
"I think it just shows how good we can be," UMC head coach Natalie Moynihan said. "It also just shows how good our league is. We got picked to finish 15 out of 16 teams. I knew that wasn't true. I know that won't be true by the end of the season. ... It just means a lot to our program in general, because we've been wanting to play UND for a while. We're right down the road, and we haven't played them since 2009 — it's been a long time."
It was the Hawks' first loss to a non-Division I opponent since they lost to Mayville State on Dec. 15, 2023.
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"They took their first punch, and we ate that punch up," UND sophomore guard London Harris said. "We just have to utilize this game for the next game that comes after this. This is definitely not how we want to go out, first game of the season."
The Hawks shot 1-for-17 from 3-point range in the first half but found some life in the third quarter. Senior guard Addison Klosterbuer hit a 3-pointer to bring UND within a point, 49-48.
The Hawks, however, did not have an answer for UMC sophomore forward Anna Westby down the stretch.
Westby scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach for UND.
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"I'm really excited, just proud of our team," Westby said. "The way we executed our game plan. Our defense — we just stuck to our game, and we proved to ourselves that our game works."
Westby finished with a team-high 29 points.
"Anna is amazing," Moynihan said. "I always say to referees that they don't know how to ref her, because she genuinely jumps like a guy. She's so athletic, a pure gift from God, and she's just learning that she can take over games. She's only a sophomore, and she's going to be oustanding."
The Golden Eagles shot 51% from the field and scored 46 points in the paint.
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"We've got a long way to go defensively," UND head coach Dennis Hutter said. "I didn't like us at all defensively. It felt like they were able to do whatever they wanted to and move the ball around. Way too many points in the paint. We didn't do a great job of rebounding. I just thought we got out-physicaled the entire game."
UND began to find some rhythm offensively in the second half, but it wasn't enough to overcome a brutal start. The Hawks shot 26.8% from the field and 5-for-33 from 3-point range.
"Offensively, we didn't finish the way I believe we could finish," Hutter said. "It was good to see us take care of the ball, we got to the free-throw line quite extensively, which was great to see. To me, it starts defensively. I didn't like us at all defensively, and then I just felt like offensively, I thought we were loose. Not sound, not solid, not simple, just relatively loose."
