UMD women’s basketball takes their dancing shoes to St. Joseph, MO for the Elite 8

DULUTH, MN. (Northern News Now) - March Madness continues for Bulldog Country as both basketball teams head to the Elite 8 for the first time in Division II NCAA tournament and UMD program history.

After a 77-76 come-from-behind win over Missouri Southern State, in what may have been the greatest comeback the Romano Gymnasium has yet to see, the UMD women’s basketball team were crowned the Central Region champions.

The Bulldogs earned the No. 2 seed in the Elite 8.

The women are packing their bags and heading to St. Joseph, Missouri to take on No. 7 Assumption on Monday.

The Bulldogs have yet to meet the 27-5 Massachusetts team, but fifth-year Booke Olson says she is confident that the Bulldogs can get it done with their grind and their grit.

“I think that’s our foundation right now. Like, we want to keep winning games we want to continue to play. I know me and Maesyn, we only have 3 games possible left. And so I think we’re just kind of holding on to that, and wanting to play more and wanting to lengthen our career as much as possible,” said Olson. “So it was really exciting to see how far we came because usually a lot of teams would crumble in those situations and lose trust. And I think we just never did. So that was a really exciting thing going in, and that was a really tough game to do it. But that just shows that we really can beat any team in the country if we have that.”

Olson is currently averaging 37 points per game in the tournament and leading her team in assists with 7.4.

It’s wheels up for Mandy Pearson and company tomorrow as they continue to dance their way to Dallas for the National Championship game.

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