Unwavering belief leads UMD women’s basketball to first ever Regional Title

Monday night, with 15 seconds left in what could have their season University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) women’s basketball’s Ella Gilbertson hit a three pointer lifting the Bulldogs to a 77-76 comeback win over Missouri Southern State.

With the win they claimed the NCAA DII Central Regional Crown for the first time in program history.

Now, for the first time ever UMD is sending a team to the Elite Eight.

“I think even when we made a run and then they made a little bit of a run in my head, I was doing this all weekend because they put the NCAA ladder in our athletic office. I kept walking by that and I kept picturing these people walking up and cutting down the net. So I think that helped keep me calm because I just had this vision that we would pull it through,” said head coach Mandy Pearson.

All but one of the eight region’s top-seeds advanced. Now 30-3 UMD earned the second seed and will battle 27-5 Assumption in the quarterfinals.

“I never envisioned us losing like, really, I also was thinking we’re going to be cutting down the net. We’re going to be holding that trophy at the end of that game. So I think we just held on to that and we just trusted each other,” said graduate student Brooke Olson.

Tip-off is Monday, March 20 at 2:30 p.m. at the St. Joseph Civic Center in St. Joseph, Missouri. For the bracket, Click Here.

“We want to win a national championship so I think we’re just kind of setting our eyes on that. But taking it one day at a time, one game at a time. This feels really good so I’m just going to soak it in for as long as I can before we get back into the gym and get ready for some really tough teams down in St. Joseph,” concluded Olson.