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  • Minnesota State's Jamie Bresnahan defends Augustana's Emily Schulte during the first half of their game Friday at Bresnan Arena. Pat Christman

    MSU w hoops1_2-4.jpg

  • Minnesota State's Kirstin Nelson is fouled on her way to the basket during the first half Friday at Bresnan Arena. Pat Christman

    MSU w hoops2_2-4.jpg

February 4, 2012

MSU women top high-scoring Augustana in overtime

The Free Press

MANKATO —

The MSU women's basketball team came into Friday night's game tied for

fourth place in the NSIC with Minnesota-Duluth. If the Mavericks are to be

considered serious contenders in the conference race, they need to pass two

tough tests this weekend as both of the co-leaders in the conference visit

Bresnan Arena.

MSU passed the first test on Friday with a thrilling 98-95 overtime win over

No. 25 Augustana. The decision put a halt to Vikings' 10 game winning

streak.

Even though the game went to an extra five minutes, the Mavericks didn't

trail at all during regulation. The only times they didn't lead were when it

was 0-0 at the tip and 86-86 after 40 minutes of play. MSU raced out to a

12-2 lead behind good outside shooting as both Jamie Bresnahan and Jennie

Noreen nailed 3's. MSU maintained that lead throughout the rest of the half

as it went to the locker room up 46-37.

"We believed from the start we could beat Augustana on our home floor and we

proved it tonight," said MSU head coach Pam Gohl.

The Mavericks held the Vikings without a 3 in the game's first 20 minutes.

Augustana's Molly Hayes hit their team's first shot from behind the arc

three minutes into the second half and then she went off from there. Hayes

scored 29 of her 33 points after halftime to help her team come back from a

15-point first-half deficit.

"She had the game of her life," said Noreen. "She¹s a great player."

Noreen had a frustrating first half scoring only three points, but totaled

17 after the break for a team-high 20 points.

"In the second half, I really concentrated on shooting my 3's and driving

more to create a shot for me or kick it out to another player and it worked

for us," she said.

MSU held an 86-83 advantage late in regulation when Hayes drove to the

basket, scored and was fouled by Alli Hoefer. She made the free throw to tie

the game. An Aubrey Davis driving shot to the basket with two seconds left

didn't fall, sending the game to overtime.

Augustana's first and only lead came three second into overtime after a pair

of free throws from Emily Schulte. Bresnahan connected on a 3 less than a

minute later to put MSU up 89-88 ‹ this time to stay. Hayes missed a long

three in the waning seconds to give the Mavs the huge win.

"We¹re not happy with one this weekend, let's get two," Gohl told her team

afterwards.

The Mavericks (14-6, 10-6 in NSIC) aced their first test of the weekend.

Test No. 2 comes at 4 p.m. today when No. 4 Wayne State pays a visit to

Bresnan Arena.

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