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Lady Spartans Fall to Northland in Overtime

The M State women's basketball team fell behind by 17 points in the first quarter on Saturday afternoon in their Region 13B semifinal round contest against the Northland Pioneers.

Lady Spartans Fall to Northland in Overtime
March 2, 2024
Box Score

The M State women's basketball team fell behind by 17 points in the first quarter on Saturday afternoon in their Region 13B semifinal round contest against the Northland Pioneers.  The Spartans were able to battle back and force overtime before succumbing to the number one seed from the MCAC Northern Division, 62-58.

M State trailed 24-11 after one quarter of play, however, the lady Spartans out-scored the Pioneers 16-6 in the second quarter to trim the lead to 3 points, 30-27, at the half.

Jayna Gronewold's 3-point field goal early in the third quarter tied the game at 30, however, Northland then rattled off 7 points in a row to take a 37-30 lead and went on to lead, 41-38, at the end of 3 quarters.

Gronewold proceeded to take the game into her own hands, hitting a go-ahead 3-point field goal with 7:43 left in the fourth quarter for what turned out to be the only lead of the game for M State at 43-42.  With M State trailing 53-47 with 1:21 on the clock, Gronewold connected from 3-point range again, to pull the Spartans to within 3 at 53-50.  With just 26 seconds remaining, she launched a highly contest 3 that swished through the net, tying the game at 53-53, forcing overtime.  She also hit a clutch two-point shot with 3 minutes left in OT, tying the game once again, this time at 56-56.  Northland proceeded to score 6 of the last 8 points for a 62-58 win.

Gronewold added 4 assists, 4 steals and 4 rebounds to her stat line, to go along with a game high 22 points.  Mo Bugbee (10 points, 10 rebounds, 5 steals) had an outstanding game, finishing with a double-double, and Mia Blaskowski added 9 points off the bench.  Madi Foss finished with 8 points. 

M State shot 43.9% (25-57) from the floor and made 35.7% (5-14) of their 3's.  They were out-scored on the line, 13-3 as the Pioneers shot 17 free throws to just 6 for the lady Spartans.  M State was called for 18 fouls in the game, while the lady Pioneers were only called for 8 infractions.  M State won the rebounding battle, 40-33.

Tiyana Schwinghammer led Northland with 18 points, 6 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 blocks.  Riley Mooney finished with 16 points, and Josie Iverson scored 13 points, grabbed 4 rebounds and dished out 4 assists.