Box Score SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The University of Minnesota Crookston women's basketball team saw their season come to a close as they fell 75-62 to University of Sioux Falls in the quarterfinals of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament. The Golden Eagles end their season with an 18-10 mark, the most wins in program history and they have made consecutive trips to the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament.

Sioux Falls improves to 25-5 and advances to the NSIC/Sanford Health semifinals where they will play No. 1 seed in the NSIC North Northern State University.

"It really is a great stop forward that this program has been able to make the last two seasons," said Head Coach Mike Roysland. "Having Katrina Nordick, Alexa Thielman and Megan Taylor and what they have done to move this program forward has been special. Not only for their athleticism and what they can do on the court but as people. I can't thank them enough for what they have done. It hurts today but what has taken place this year and to be able to get back here again with all the pressure we had to make it back has been great. I think we have some great returners and a great class coming in, so we have a lot of positives. A lot of our players have been here now and understand what it takes to get here and stay here."

The Golden Eagles were led by Katrina Nordick (Sr., F, Perham, Minn./Applied Studies), who had 21 points on 8-of-19 from the field. Nordick finishes her career, third all-time in scoring with 1,559 points. She also ends her career as the all-time leader in rebounds.

Isieoma Odor (R-Fr., F/C, Bloomington, Minn./Health Management) showed signs of what is to come in the future for the young player. Odor had 15 points and six boards off the bench for the Golden Eagles. Micaela Noga (So., G, Parkers Prairie, Minn./Health Management) added 10 points.

Alexa Thielman (Sr., G, Buffalo, Minn./Health Science) had nine points. The Golden Eagle seniors finishes her career with 1,459 points, fourth all-time. She also ends her career as the all-time leader in three-pointers.

Megan Taylor (Sr., F/C, Estelline, S.D./Animal Science) also finished her four-year career, seeing action late against the Cougars. She was an outstanding student-athlete and helped the Golden Eagle program to continue to get better with her work in practice and off of the bench.

UMC shot 23-of-59 for 39 percent from beyond the arc. They struggled from behind the arc, going just 2-of-10 for 20 percent. UMC was out-rebounded 39-30 on the afternoon.

Sioux Falls was led by 22 points from Sam Knecht, who added nine boards. The Cougars overall were able to control UMC in the paint with Knecht and Alison Klostergaard, who added 15

UMC did a good job limiting NSIC Player of the Year Taylor Varsho, who finished with 10 on 4-of-9 from the field.

The Cougars shot 30-of-65 for 46.2 percent from the field and were 4-of-15 for 36.7 percent from beyond the arc.

The Cougars got out to an 8-3 lead with 6:20 left in the first quarter with a Klostergaard lay-up. The Golden Eagles would cut into the lead as Isieoma Odor (R-Fr., F/C, Bloomington, Minn./Health Management) would score, followed by a Nordick jumper to cut the lead to 8-7 with 5:30 left in the quarter.

The Cougars would go on a 4-0 run to widen their lead to 12-7 but Nordick would respond with a three from the wing to cut the lead to 12-10 with 4:03 left in the quarter. After a defensive stop, Nordick would find the bucket again to knot the game up 12-12 and then she would go 1-of-2 from the charity stripe to put the Golden Eagles up 13-12 with 3:12 remaining in the quarter.

Sioux Falls would take the lead back and get their lead up to 21-17 on a Varsho fast-break lay-up with 1:50 left in the quarter. The Cougars would extend their lead to 23-17 on a Knecht put-back.

The Cougars would finish up the first with an Amber Paden bucket to make it 25-17.

Sioux Falls would get up 29-19 early in the second quarter on a Paden bucket. Their lead would extend to 33-19. The Cougars would make it 36-19 on an Alyson Johnson trey with 4:35 left in the half.

UMC would end their scoring slump as Nordick found Thielman to stop the 20-2 run and cut the lead to 36-21. A Hughes bucket and a Thielman steal and fast-break lay-up would make it a 6-0 run for UMC as they cut the lead to 36-25. However, Marie Malloy responded to stop UMC's run and make it 38-25.

The Cougars would have one last chance in the quarter but Odor would block Varsho's shot as Sioux Falls would have a 41-29 lead at the break.

Minnesota Crookston would look to Nordick in the first half, who had 12 points on 5-of-11 from the field. Odor came off the bench for eight points. The Golden Eagles were 12-of-30 for 40 percent from the field and just 1-of-2 for 50 percent from beyond the arc.

Sioux Falls was led in the first half by Knecht, who had 11 points and five rebounds. Paden came off the bench for eight. Klostergaard had six points and six boards. The Cougars were 17-of-33 from the field for 51.5 percent. They went 2-of-5 for 40 percent from beyond the arc. The Cougars had eight offensive rebounds in the first half.

The Golden Eagles would open up the second half with a basket from Nordick to cut the lead to 41-31. The Cougars would follow it with a 7-0 run to get their lead back out to 48-31.

UMC would not go away though as they cut the lead to 48-35 with a Thielman jumper mid-way through the third quarter. However, USF would respond as Johnson hit her third trey of the game to put the Cougars up 51-35. But the Golden Eagles would come back with a three of their own as Caitlin Michaelis  (Fr., G, Marshfield, Wis.) hit one to make it 51-38 with four minutes left in the third quarter.

UMC would get the lead down to 53-42 on an Odor jumper in the paint, her 10^th point of the game. Sioux Falls would extend their lead to 55-42. UMC would be able to cut the lead to 55-44 with a pair of Nordick free throws to close out the third quarter.

The Golden Eagles would keep the deficit at 11 until Sioux Falls would go on a 6-0 run led by a Varsho old-fashioned three-point play to make it 62-46 with 7:22 left in the game.

The Golden Eagles would cut the lead back to 12 but Sioux Falls would get the lead back out to 67-50 as Varsho hit a clutch three with the shot clock expiring.


UMC would be able to cut the deficit back down to 67-53 with 5:14 left after an Odor old-fashioned three-point play. A pair of Noga free throws would cut the lead down to 67-55 with 4:50 left in the game.

Madi Robson would find Klostergaard with 3:58 left in the game to stop UMC's run and make it 69-55.

Sioux Falls would be able to stop the Golden Eagles from there and would come away with the win to upend the Golden Eagles.

The Golden Eagles lose Nordick, Thielman and Taylor but return five of their top eight players from the 2015-16 season including NSIC All-Freshman Team pick Alison Hughes (Fr., G, Janesville, Wis./Early Childhood Education). Starters Emily Gruber (So., F/C, Monticello, Minn./Communication) and Micaela Noga (So., G, Parkers Prairie, Minn./Health Management) also return.