by Tom Froemming
November 29, 2005
After its first three games were decided by a combined margin of 18 points, the Minnesota State women’s basketball team played two more close games this weekend at the University of Nebraska-Kearney/Holiday Inn Thanksgiving Classic, beating Fort Hayes State 66-63 Friday then losing to Nebraska-Kearney 74-65 Saturday.
MSU head coach Lori Fish would rather not have to sit at the edge of her seat, but knows these tight games are giving her team valuable experience.
“We are going to be in close games in the conference season and, hopefully, the more we’re in this situation, the better we get at executing down the stretch,” Fish said.
The holiday weekend on the road gave the team an opportunity to bond off the court as the Mavericks ate a turkey lunch before hitting the road at noon on Thanksgiving Day. The team spent the nine-hour bus ride to Kearney, Neb., watching movies and playing games.
The bonding experience translated on the court as MSU came from behind to beat FHS — a team that appeared in the NCAA Division II National Tournament last season. Despite connecting on five-of-12 free throws in the first half, the Mavericks went into the half just four points behind FHS.
MSU was able to fix its woes from the charity stripe in the second half, going 12-for-16 in the second half on its way to victory.
“[Free throw shooting] is just a mental part of the game,” Fish said. “They just stepped up and had confidence and didn’t worry about it. Free throws are so mental.”
With MSU up two and 2:21 seconds on the clock, sophomore guard Jamie Kienitz hit the Mavericks’ only three pointer of the contest to propel her team to victory.
MSU received a taste of its own medicine Saturday as UNK came back in the second half to beat the Mavs. According to Fish, her team wasn’t as scrappy late in the game as it had been in previous contests.
“We didn’t take pride and get down [on defense] late in the game and try to take over,” Fish said. “We just kind of got on our heels and we weren’t the aggressors.”
With 17 minutes left in the game, UNK went on a 28-10 run, going from behind MSU by eight to ahead of MSU by 10. The Mavericks never recovered despite hitting 17-of-20 free throw attempts..
Freshman guard Joanne Noreen shined in the loss, scoring a career-high 17 points while connecting on all of her seven free-throw attempts.
“[Noreen] takes difficult shots,” Fish said. “She tries to get [to the hoop] and she’s a slasher. Her layups just weren’t falling. I talked to her on Saturday and said ‘just knock down the open shot if it’s there, don’t always feel you got to penetrate,’ and she did that. She just let the game come to her.”
Senior center Arin Andrews led MSU in scoring both games, tallying 16 points Friday and 22 Saturday. Sophomore Anna Voltmer contributed off the bench for the Mavs, scoring 16 points Friday. Voltmer has gone 13-for-15 from the floor and five-for-five on free throws while scoring 31 points in her last three games.
MSU looks to keep growing and improving as it returns to Nebraska for another tournament this weekend.
“We’ve got a lot of room for improvement,” Fish said. “We’ve got a long ways to go. We’re nowhere near where we need to be right now — but I do see us getting better.”
The Mavericks take on Adams State Friday and Mesa State Saturday in the Nebraska-Omaha Classic.
“I expect us to go down there and get two wins and if we don’t, I’ll be extremely disappointed,” Fish said.
Tom Froemming is the Reporter Sports Editor
