By Chad Courrier
MANKATO — Tiffany Moe missed 14 of her first 17 shots, but as the top returning player for the Minnesota State women’s basketball team, she knows she still needs to keep shooting.
“My shot was going in, but I felt comfortable,” Moe said. “I forced a couple of shots.
“You don’t think about the missed shots, you have to move on. You can’t stop shooting.”
Moe launched 23 shots and made seven, but she hit four in a row in the final six minutes to carry Minnesota State past Grand View College 76-71 at the Pepsi Tip-Off at Bresnan Arena.
Moe, who has averaged only 7.7 shots with a high of 13 attempts in her 94 career games at Minnesota State, will certainly top that number this season as she leads a young Minnesota State team. She probably won’t get 23 attempts too often, but she needs to keep firing.
“She knows how important she is to this team,” coach Pam Gohl said. “She wants to lead by example and make those shots, but sometimes it doesn’t happen. But it’s also important that we had other people step up.”
Minnesota State led 11-6 after five minutes and 19-15 at the 10-minute mark, but Grand View outscored the Mavericks 15-6 over the next five minutes. Liz Trauger hit two free throws to spark a rally, then nailed a 3-pointer and a breakaway layup, fed by Moe, as Minnesota State went up 35-32 with 1:30 to play in the half.
The Mavericks maintained the three-point margin at halftime, despite shooting only 40 percent. Trauger had 13 points at the break.
“This was important because we’re not going to beat teams by 30 every night,” Moe said. “We had to take care of the basketball, and a lot of girls did good things tonight.”
Minnesota State opened the second half with a 9-5 run, highlighted by a 3-pointer from Moe, who made only three of her first 15 shots. The lead grew to 48-41 before Grand View crawled back to toe the game at 55 with 8:26 to play.
Moe hit another 3-pointer and Jennie Noreen made two free throws as the Mavericks didn’t trail again, though the lead was never comfortable. Moe hit her next three shots, but Minnesota State still led only led 69-68 with 1:47 to play.
However, Noreen hit a wing jumper and Sarah Wiens nailed her third 3-pointer to rebuild the lead. Noreen hit two free throws with eight seconds to play that secured the victory.
“I think inexperience showed,” Gohl said. “It’s hard to simulate in practice the intensity you need in games. I’m proud of the girls that they did what they needed to do to win .”
Trauger and Noreen each scored 18 points to pace Minnesota State, and Moe scored 16. Wiens totaled 11 points, and Ali Wilkinson grabbed 10 rebounds and mad 7 of 8 free throws.
“It was kind of frustrating when I missed, but you make a couple and the confidence comes back,” Moe said.
Jennifer Jorgenson led Grand View with 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Bailey Schechinger had 12 points. Danielle Ballard and Micah Reed each scored 10 points, and Jamie Sickles had nine points and 10- rebounds.
“Penetration hurt us tonight,” Gohl said. Our (defensive) rotation wasn’t good, and we had a lot of silly fouls.”
The Mavericks (2-0) host Waldorf College at 6 p.m. today to wrap up the Tip-Off. Before the game, Minnesota State will unveil its national championship banner from last season.
GRAND VIEW 71
Jorgenson 4-10 8-8 16, Schechinger 4-9 4-6 12, Ballard 4-10 2-4 10, Reed 4-12 0-0 10, Sickles 3-8 3-4 9, Ehlers 2-4 0-0 5, Vos 3-14 2-2 9, Rose 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 24-67 19-24 71.
MINNESOTA STATE 76
Weber 2-6 0-0 4, Trauger 6-11 4-6 18, Moe 7-23 0-0 16, Wiens 4-7 0-0 11, Noreen 6-9 6-6 18, Christian 0-0 0-0 0, Nelson 0-2 0-0 0, Thiesfeld 1-2 0-0 2, Wilkinson 0-5 7-8 7. Totals: 26-65 17-20 76.
Halftime: Minnesota State 37, Grand View 34. 3-point shooting: Grand View 4-13 (Reed 2-7, Sickles 0-2, Ehlers 1-2, Vos 1-2), Minnesota State 7-20 (Trauger 2-5, Moe 2-6, Wiens 3-5, Noreen 0-2, Nelson 0-1, Wilkinson 0-1). Rebounds: Grand View 45 (Jorgenson 12), Minnesota State 43 (Wilkinson 10). Assists: Grand View 13 (Reed, Sickles 4), Minnesota State 19 (Noreen 5). Steals: Grand View 5 (Sickles 3), Minnesota State 6 (Weber, Noreen, Wilkinson 2). Turnovers: Grand View 13, Minnesota State 11. Total fouls: Grand View 16, Minnesota State 19. Fouled out: none.
Attendance: 729.
