Minot State Beats #1 Morningside

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If the expectations were high at Minot State University, they just became exponentially higher.

The Beavers outscored preseason No. 1 and defending NAIA national champion Morningside College 15-6 in overtime to earn a 103-94 win in nonconference women's basketball Friday at the MSU Dome.

"It's a great win," MSU head coach Sheila Green Gerding said. "The kids were fired up for who they were playing and showed no fear of who they were going up against."

The Beavers avenged not only a 58-54 loss from last season in the second game of the year, but also an 87-86 thriller to the Mustangs in the 2008 NAIA national tournament quarterfinals. Friday's game, which snapped Morningside's 55-game regular season winning streak, resembled the later much more.

"It certainly seems that way over the first three," Mustangs head coach Jamie Sale said when asked if the two teams can only play exciting games. "Both teams match up well and both are quality programs. These are the kind of games we want to play to make us better."

The entertaining season opener for both games saw both teams shoot better than 45 percent, combine for 197 points and 24 3-pointers, and a fast pace that seemed to fit perfectly into MSU's senior transfer point guard Ari Hendrix. Hendrix missed a triple double in her MSU debut by a pair of rebounds, scoring a team-high 23 points, dishing out 14 assists and pulling down eight boards.

"Getting the ball up and down was a part of what we wanted to do to keep the from setting up their defense," she said. "It has been a good transition for me so far. I think I can always get better and new things come up that you have to adjust, but I thought it was a good debut."

"She has such great quickness, it is hard to keep up with her," Green Gerding added. "She can push you on the drive and gets the ball in the right place at the right time. She got better as teh game went on. She was kind of full speed ahead about 80 percent of the time and sometimes that wasn't what we needed, but she got it under control."

The two teams were separated by no more than eight points until overtime. The Mustangs never led in the second half, but forced overtime with a huge 3-pointer - their 13th of the night - by guard Tanaeya Wordon with 14.1 seconds to play in regulation.

"She is a great player and can really shoot it," Sale said. "She hit some clutch shots."

The Beavers responded right away in overtime. MSU went to senior McKenzie Mack, on a feed from Caroline Folven, with 4:23 to play in overtime. Mack made it 93-88 with two free throws on an offensive rebound and 95-89, off a feed from Hendrix, with 3:10 to go.

"The thing we did was we had good starts at every break - and that what we did in overtime too," Green Gerding said.

MSU would blow it open with a 3-pointer by Whitney Loftesnes and a pair of free throws by Sam Medcalf, as MSU topped the century mark taking a 100-89 lead with just 33 seconds to go.

"Minot did a great job of executing and got the ball in the right hands in overtime," Sale said. "We never really stopped them all game."

Hendrix and Folven carried MSU in the first half. Folven didn't miss a shot in the first on her way to 19 points. She finished with 21 points, three rebounds, three assists and three blocks. Hendrix added eight points and nine assists as he quickness was unmatched.

"Man, I tell you we had some kids who had to play tired," Green Gerding said. "That will change over time as we get some other kids in there, they just aren't ready yet."

While MSU enjoyed a couple of eight-point buldges in the first, the Beavers could never run away with things. Morningside kept battling back, but couldn't push a short run into a big one.