UMD / UWS Bridge Battle Kicks Off the Local College Basketball Season + High School Hockey Kicks Off
The Twin Ports had plenty of basketball on Tuesday night, as all three of the local women’s college basketball squads were in action.
The 25th meeting between UWS and UMD in women’s basketball with the Bulldogs winning by a score of77-65 at Romano Gym.
The Bulldogs are now 3-1 on the year while the Yellowjackets drop to 2-1.
The score was 40-32 UMD at the half.
Alyssa Kerkhoff of the Bulldogs led all scorers with 21 points.
Katrina Newman of Barnum added another 14 points for UMD who now extended their overall lead in the series to 21-4. Taylor Meyer added another 12 points for UMD.
Two UWS players had 18 points, Deandra Vavra and Sally Linzmeyer. Hillary Peterson added another 9 points for the Jackets.
UMD out rebounded UWS 46-29 and shot better from the floor as well, 49% to the Jackets 34%.
UMD Head Women’s basketball coach Annette Wiles knew the Jackets would be improved this year. She said, “It’s a Bridge Battle and a lot of pride goes into this basketball game. You have two outstanding programs and Don does a great job of coaching those young women.”
The Bulldogs are now off until they open NSIC Conference play against St. Cloud State.
Head Coach Annette Wiles says it will be a challenge. She said, “16 teams in one conference seems like a lot teams to travel to play, but I guess it keeps things exciting. I see the conference is very evenly paired, I don’t think there is any one team that is going to run away with it.” She understands the traditional rivalry between UMD and St. Cloud State and said, “Starting the season on the road, with a rival opponent is certainly exciting for us and knowing that those games are also regional games adds a lot of value to them.”
UMD opened their home season on Saturday with a win against Michigan Tech, with Alysssa Kerkhoff with the game winning three pointer at the buzzer. Wiles said about that game, “It was absolutely amazing, and Romano Gym was rocking, to have that kind of crowd, in that kind of game was certainly a very special evening in front of the hometown crowd. We certainly had the advantage down the stretch in that ballgame.”
Meanwhile, down the road at St. Scholastica, they were facing Augsburg College.
The game marked the season opener for the Auggies and they pulled out of Duluth with a 77-65 victory.
Danica Shellbach was the leading scorer for the Saints with 10 points and Anne Skriba was the leading scorer for the Auggies with 16 points.
Augsburg led 42-18 at the half. The Saints hit the road and will play at a Thanksgiving tournament at UW-Stout this weekend.
If that wasn’t enough basketball, Denfeld High School was the host school for the Lake Superior Conference girl’s basketball jamboree.
8 teams were taking part, even Duluth East Greyhounds even thou they are not in the conference.
Some high school hockey to talk about as well from Tuesday night. In girl’s high school hockey, Hibbing-Chisholm topped Proctor-Hermantown 5-1 at the Hermantown Arena. And former Duluth East Greyhound Dom Toninato has signed his national letter of intent to play with the Bulldogs. He announced the news Tuesday night on his Twitter account.
Toninato is playing this season with Fargo in the USHL. He has totaled 6 goals and 13 assists in 17 games for that team. He is also and NHL draft pick, he was taken by Toronto in the 5th round of the 2012 draft with the 126th overall pick.
His future team, the UMD Bulldogs will host St. Cloud State this weekend at Amsoil Arena.
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