Meet Nicole Meier:
U-Mary's unstoppable force.
The senior from Dickinson couldn't be contained
on Friday, racking up 23 points and grabbing nine
rebounds to lead the NCAA DII Marauders to a 61-52
non-conference victory over DAC
champion Dakota State.
"We just didn't have any
intensity on the defensive end of the floor tonight,"
said Dakota State Coach Jeff Dittman. "Mary was
able to hit 61% of their shots the second half and you
are not going to win any games giving up that shooting
percentage. I think Mary did a great job of
executing offensively but I also feel we weren't focused
enough considering the quality of opponent we were
playing."
Meier scored 15 of her points in the first half, helping
U-Mary to a 30-27 lead at the break.
The senior kept slicing through the Trojans' zone
defense, and the Marauders just keep feeding her the
ball.
"Nicole is one of the most intelligent basketball
players I've coached, and she does an excellent job
finding open spots,"U-Mary coach Fred Fridley said. "She
kept getting herself in the right position, and she was
dynamite tonight."
Dakota State took a 39-38 lead in the second half, but
back-to-back
3-pointers from Kara McGuinness and Kristin
Bear gave the Marauders a 44-39 lead, and the Trojans
wouldn't lead again. "We had
another stretch in the game where we couldn't hit a
shot, then we let that effect our defense. We have
got to learn that when the offense isn't working the
defense must be twice as good. If we don't learn
that lesson, we may have a short post-season run."
Leading Dakota State in scoring was
Jill Hansen with 11 points. She was the only Lady
T with double-digit scoring. Maria Gengler was the
leading rebounder with six as the Lady T's were
outboarded 32-35. In their first encounter, DSU
was able to pull down 20 more rebounds than the
Marauders. "That was a big factor", said Dittman.
"We are #1 in offensive rebounding in the conference but
we weren't able to dominate the boards tonight."
Dakota State got within two points at 49-47, but then
the Marauders went back to ol' reliable - Meier in the
middle. U-Mary went on an 8-0 run, getting six points from
Meier. The defense did the rest, holding the Trojans
scoreless for 5:18.
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