MANKATO, Minn. – Alison Hughes (Fr., G, Janesville, Wis./Early Childhood Education) would find Isieoma Odor (R-Fr., F/C, Bloomington, Minn./Health Management) on the out-of-bounds play with 0.9 seconds left and Odor would catch and lay the ball in as the Golden Eagles picked up the 91-90 win over Minnesota State University, Mankato in an overtime thriller. Minnesota State would end UMC's season last year in the quarterfinals of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament. This was the first match-up between the two since then.

The Golden Eagles improved to 12-4 (9-3 NSIC) with Saturday's win and sit in a three-way tie for first place with Northern State University and Minnesota State University Moorhead, who they host next weekend at Lysaker Gymnasium. The Mavericks fall to 5-10 (4-7 NSIC) with Saturday's loss.

Minnesota Crookston was led by a career game from Katrina Nordick (Sr., F, Perham, Minn./Applied Studies), who had 32 points and six boards on 13-of-25 from the field and 6-of-7 from the charity stripe. Nordick had nine points in overtime before fouling out. Alexa Thielman (Sr., G, Buffalo, Minn./Health Science) added 24 points on 8-of-13 from the field, 2-of-4 from beyond the arc and 6-of-7 from the charity stripe. Hughes would have 10 points and four assists, while Odor had nine points on 4-of-5 from the field, including the game-winner.
UMC was 31-of-66 for 47 percent from the field and 3-of-8 for 37.5 percent from beyond the arc. The Golden Eagles would go 26-of-35 for 74.3 percent from the charity stripe.

The Mavericks had five players in double-figures. Claire Ziegler led the way with 29 points and eight boards on 13-of-18 from the field. McKenzie Hoelmenn had a double-double of 12 points and 11 boards. Britney Scherber, Madison Lee and Taylor Paulsrud all had 12 points for Minnesota State.

Minnesota State was 30-of-69 for 43.5 percent from the field, 9-of-22 for 40.9 percent from beyond the arc and 21-of-27 for 77.8 percent from the charity stripe.

The Golden Eagles got out to a 6-2 lead early on the Mavericks led by four points from Nordick. UMC would be able to extend their lead to 9-4 as Thielman connected on a trey from the wing. The Golden Eagle lead would get out to 13-4 as Nordick picked up her eighth point of the game. The Mavericks would cut into the UMC lead as Scherber connected on the team's first three of the day, but Thielman would answer with a three of her own to give the Golden Eagles a 16-7 lead with 4:30 left in the first quarter.

The Mavericks would cut the deficit to 16-10 as Hoelmenn hit 1-of-2 from the charity stripe. The Golden Eagles would respond as Nordick got her 10^th point of the game on a drive and lay-up to make it 18-10 UMC. The Mavericks would strike back again, cutting the lead to 19-14 on a Ziegler jumper with a minute left in the first quarter. The Golden Eagles would go into the quarter break with a 22-17 lead as the Golden Eagles were led by 11 from Nordick and 10 from Thielman. Minnesota State looked to nine from Hoelmenn and five from Ziegler.

UMC would push their lead out to nine early in the second quarter on an Odor jumper. After Minnesota State would cut the lead to eight, Hughes would drive a pass in to Odor, who would get the lay-up to put the Golden Eagles up 29-19 with under eight minutes left in the quarter.  The Mavericks would be able to cut the deficit to seven at 35-28 on a Logan Anderson trey coming right off an out-of-balance play. However, Thielman would come through again with the old-fashioned three-point play to push the Golden Eagles back to a 38-28 lead with 5:30 left in the second quarter.

Minnesota State would go on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 38-34 following a Taylor Paulsrud jumper. Odor would come through this time with a jumper to stop the run and make it 40-34. UMC's lead would be pushed out to 42-34 as Noga found Gruber for the bucket, but a Hoelmenn trey would cut the lead back to 42-37.

The Golden Eagles would go into the break with the 42-37 advantage on the Mavericks. UMC was led by Thielman, who had 15 first-half points on 6-of-7 from the field and 2-of-2 from beyond the arc. Thielman moved to fourth on the all-time scoring charts the previous night, surpassing Kari Score on the all-time list. Nordick had 11 on 5-of-6 from the field in just eight minutes as she got into early foul trouble. Odor played meaningful minutes in the first half with seven points in seven minutes, but she also got into foul trouble with three in the first half. UMC was 16-of-26 for 61.5 percent from the field and were 2-of-3 for 66.7 percent from beyond the arc.

Minnesota State was led in the first half by Zielger with 13 on 5-of-6 from the field and 3-of-5 from the charity stripe. Hoelmenn had 12 points on 5-of-7 from the field. The Mavericks were 15-of-32 for 46.9 percent from the field and were 3-of-8 for 37.5 percent from beyond the arc.

Minnesota State would cut the lead to three (42-39) on a Ziegler jumper to open the second half. Ziegler then got a steal and a transition lay-up to get the Mavericks with one at (42-41). Nordick would stop the only run with a bucket to make it 44-41. UMC would be able to push their lead out to 48-43 led by Nordick, who would score the first six points of the second-half. The Mavericks however would make another charge and would cut it to one (48-47) after a Ziegler bucket. The two teams would keep it within three points for several minutes until the Mavericks would tie it up with Scherber hitting 1-of-2 from the charity stripe.

The Golden Eagles would take the lead back as Noga hit a pair of free throws to make it 54-52. The Mavericks would tie it up as Karina Schroeder hit a pair of free throws to make it 54-54. Madison Lee and Thielman would each hit 1-of-2 from the charity stripe as the game would stay tied 55-55. Gruber would hit a pair from the charity stripe to give the Golden Eagles a 57-55 advantage but Paulsrud's trey shortly after. Lee would follow suit as the Mavericks extended their lead out to 61-57. Nordick would hit a pair of free throws with 30 second left in the third to cut the deficit to 61-59. However, the Mavericks would get their lead back out to four on a Ziegler jumper.

Early in the fourth, the Golden Eagles would be able to cut the deficit to one (65-64) as Alison Hughes hit her first field goal of the game with a big three-pointer. Hughes would come up with another big play as she hit the runner in the lane to knot it up with 6:10 left in the game. UMC would take the lead (68-66) on a Noga jumper with 5:30 left in the game. Schroeder would knot up the game with a pair of free throws for Minnesota State to make it 68-68. Hughes would hit a pair of free throws as UMC went ahead 70-68 with 4:20 remaining, but the Mavericks would regain the lead as Claire Jordan hit the three to make it 71-70. A Ziegler bucket would extend the Minnesota State lead to 73-70 with three minutes left in the game. After a defensive stop, Nordick would come up with a big basket to cut the deficit to 73-72 with 2:11 remaining in the game. After another big defensive stop, Hughes would be fouled and would come through hitting 1-of-2 to tie the game up 73-73 with 1:45 left in the game.

On the out-of-bounds play, Minnesota State would find Paulsrud as the Mavericks went up 76-73. UMC quickly responded with a jumper to cut the deficit to 76-75. UMC would come up with the defensive stop and would have the chance. Hughes would drive in and get fouled. The freshman would hit 1-of-2 as UMC tied it up 76-76 with 6.3 seconds left.

The UMC defense would come up big as they forced the five-second violation. UMC would be held on the defensive end as the two squads would go to overtime.

UMC would start the overtime period in fine fashion as Nordick hit the old-fashioned three-point play to put the Golden Eagles up 79-76. Noga would find Nordick to extend the lead to 81-76. However, Lee would come through for the Mavericks with a three to cut the lead to 81-79. Nordick would come through with her seventh point of the overtime period to make it 83-79. However, Lee would again come through with a trey to cut the lead to 83-82. But Thielman would again find Nordick for her ninth point of overtime to make it 85-82. After a defensive stop by the Mavericks, UMC would foul Paulsrud who would hit a pair from the charity stripe to cut the deficit to 85-84. Lee would then foul Thielman, who would come through with a pair of free throws to give UMC the 87-84 lead. Scherber would then be fouled by Nordick, who would foul out. The Maverick player would hit both to cut the lead to 87-86.

The Mavericks would come up with the steal on the defensive end and Scherber would be fouled. She would hit both as Minnesota State went up 88-87. Thielman would quickly respond to give UMC the 89-88 lead. Ziegler would come up with the bucket to put UMC up 90-89 with 0.9 seconds remaining.

The Golden Eagles would draw up the perfect play in the timeout. The Maverick defense would bite on UMC senior Thielman and Odor would sneak towards the basket where Hughes lobbed the ball and Odor would catch and shoot, draining the lay-up as UMC went on to the overtime win.

The Golden Eagles will host Minnesota State University Moorhead Fri., Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. and Northern State University Sat., Jan. 23 at 4 p.m.