Moorhead Beats MSU in Exhibition Game

If Monday is any indication, Minnesota State Moorhead will have an offense based on balance this season.

The Dragons had five different players score in double figures en route to a 77-55 victory against Minot State in nonconference women's basketball at Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse.

The game was the regular-season opener for the Dragons, who won 22 games last season. MSUM had played an exhibition game against North Dakota State.

I think you see that there are a lot of people who can put the ball in the basket for us, MSUM coach Karla Nelson said.

Sophomore Angie Jetvig paced the Dragons with 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field. The 6-foot-2 forward scored nine of those points in the second half.

Everybody on this team can score, Jetvig said. Everybody can get it done. Jetvig is one of five returning players for Dragons along with posts Meghan Rettke and Alison Nash-Gerlach and guards Krista Opheim and Betsy Dickson.

Six different newcomers, including four freshmen, saw court time for MSUM against Minot State.

We're just getting used to each other, Jetvig said. We did decent. There are a lot of things we could do better, but I thought we did good overall. It's a lot more people to get used to, but it'sworking well. It just takes some time.

One of the newcomers, Mara Paulson, had a solid game for the Dragons. The 6-1 forward scored 12 points off the bench. Paulson, a former Fargo Shanley standout, transferred to MSUM from Jamestown College.

Freshman Kaycee Charette scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds off the bench. Sophomore point guard Brittany Mayclin, a transfer from North Dakota State College of Science, started at point guard. Last year, a starter at point guard, Opheim came off the bench as she was limited in the preseason due to surgery on her calves.

Mara I thought did pretty well and I thought Britt played pretty well, too, Nelson said.

The Dragons grabbed control against Minot State with an 18-2 run in the first half. Five different players scored during that surge.

Jetvig capped the run with a 3-pointer from the right baseline. That basket staked the Dragons to a 35-19 lead with 1 minute, 46 seconds to play in the first half.

Hopefully, we learn from this game and take some things that we didn't do very well and improve on them and get ready for Friday, Nelson said.

MSUM next plays No. 23-ranked Hillsdale (Mich.) College at 1 p.m. Friday in Marshall, Minn.

MINOT STATE (0-1): Medcalf 4-6 2-2 14, Folven 6-12 7-8 19, Loftesnes 0-5 0-2 0, Hendriz 2-9 2-2 8, Mack 2-8 0-0 5, Garza 0-2 0-0 0, Durkin 0-4 0-0 0, Molina 0-4 0-0 0, Erickson 1-4 2-2 4, Cordova 2-5 1-1 5, Safranski 0-2 0-0 0, Nelson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-62 14-17 55.

MSUM (1-0): Mayclin 2-4 0-2 5, Dickson 3-7 2-3 10, Rettke 6-11 2-3 14, Nash-Gerlach 2-5 6-6 10, Jetvig 6-10 3-3 15, Opheim 0-1 2-2 2, Evenson 0-0 0-0 0, Yernatich 0-5 0-0 0, Charette 3-6 2-2 8, Paulson 5-9 1-1 12, Reisselman 0 0-0 0. Totals 27-58 15-19 77.

Half: MSUM 35, Minot 26. 3-point goals: Minot 7-21 (Medcalf 4-4, Folven 0-1, Loftesnes 0-2, Hendriz 2-6, Mack 1-3, Durkin 0-2, Molina 0-1, Erickson 0-1, Cordova 0-1),

MSUM 8-21 (Mayclin 1-2, Dickson 2-6, Jetvig 3-3, Opheim 0-1, Yernatich 0-4, Charette 1-2, Paulson 1-3).

Total fouls: Minot 20, MSUM 14.

Rebounds: Minot 29 (Folven 5, Mack 5), MSUM 54 (Dickson 9).

Assists: Minot 6 (Medcalf 2, Hendriz 2), MSUM 16 (Mayclin 4). Steals: Minot 9 (Medcalf 3), MSUM 9 (Rettke 3).

Turnovers: Minot 13 (Hendriz 5), MSUM 24 (Mayclin 7).