The UMD Bulldog women swept 3 of 4 categories in our annual MN Basketball Awards.
Team of the Year--In case you haven't heard, UMD took 2nd place in the NCAA D2 tournament recently, losing only to unbeaten Ashland in the finals 78-67. They went 21-1 in the Northern Sun, then swept 6 conference and NCAA playoff games before losing to Ashland to finish 31-3. UMD has now won 3 straight Northern Sun regular season titles and 4 of 5 NSIC playoff titles.
Player of the Year--UMD's success is very largely the work of NCAA D2 national player of the year Brooke Olson. Olson is a 4X all-conference player. This year she averaged 23 ppg and 7 reb through the regular season, and 27 ppg in the NCAA tournament.
Coach of the Year--And of course UMD's success is also the result of the remarkable work of coach Mandy Pearson. In addition to all those NSIC championships mentioned above, she now has an 8-year record of 155-67 (.698). Before that, she took over a faltering program at St. Mary's and led the Cards to teheir first MIAC title in 29 years. In her last 3 years in Winona, she was 64-18. She is arguably the most successful basketball coach in the state of Minnesota over the past decade, with apologies to Cheryl Reeve.
Game of the Year--OK, here we abandon the UMD Bulldogs in favor of St. Michael-Albertville's 71-70 win over Hopkins in the girls Class AAAA final. Hopkins had 2 regular wins over SMA and was heavily favored. But SMA ran out to a 42-25 halftime lead. But, hey, that was Hopkins they were playing, and the Royals roared back with a 45-29 2nd half margin. But that left them one point short. Tessa Johnson of SMA and Taylor Woodson of Hopkins starred.
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