Coon Rapids, Minn. -

The Northland Women's basketball team will play for a Region XIII-B championship Sunday after surviving a 62-58 overtime battle against Minnesota State - Fergus Falls in the semifinals Saturday. The Pioneers face the winner of Minnesota West and Minnesota College North Rainy River, who met in the other semifinal game. Sunday's championship game is set for 2:30 p.m.

Saturday's semifinal game between the Pioneers and Spartans was the third meeting between the teams. The Pioneers won both regular season meetings, 70-52 on Nov. 18 in Fergus Falls, and 85-40 on Dec. 8 in Thief River Falls. 

The Pioneers started fast again Saturday, outscoring the Spartans 24-11 in the opening quarter. Things changed in the second quarter, with the Spartans holding the Pioneers to just six points as they clawed their way back into the game.

The Pioneers led 30-27 at the half. They stayed in front throughout the third quarter but never led by more than five, and took a 41-38 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Spartans took a 43-42 lead, their first of the afternoon, with 7:51 left to play. The Pioneers regained the lead with a Tiyana Schwinghammer layup on the ensuing possession. The Pioneers led 53-47 with 1:43 left to play, but back-to-back three-point buckets by MState's Jayna Gronewold tied the game 53-53 with 29 seconds left to play.

Neither team would score in the final 29 seconds. The Pioneers outscored the Spartans 9-5 in the overtime period to advance to their first region championship game since 2020.
 

Minnesota State vs. Northland
March 2, 2024

(12-11, 6-5)
58

(22-4, 8-0)
62

Final	1	2	3	4	OT	T
Minnesota State	11	16	11	15	5	58
Northland	24	6	11	12	9	62

Box Score

Minnesota State

PLAYER	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
STARTERS
2 - Jayna Gronewold	43	8-13	4-8	2-4	0	4	4	4	4	0	7	3	22
13 - Itzel Salazar	42	3-8	0-1	0-0	0	3	3	2	1	0	6	3	6
15 - Moraes Bugbee	36	5-14	0-1	0-0	5	5	10	1	5	1	2	3	10
22 - Kiera Cox	38	0-1	0-0	0-0	2	3	5	0	0	0	2	3	0
23 - Madison Foss	37	4-8	0-1	0-0	1	3	4	0	1	0	3	3	8
RESERVES
4 - Brooke Finken	4	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0
5 - Madison Ballweg	5	1-3	1-2	0-0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	3
33 - Mia Blaskowski	20	4-10	0-1	1-2	1	3	4	1	0	1	0	1	9
TM - Team					2	8	10				0	0
TOTALS		25-57	5-14	3-6	11	29	40	8	12	2	22	18	58
		43.9%	35.7%	50.0%

Northland

PLAYER	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
STARTERS
1 - Josie Iverson	44	5-13	1-5	2-2	1	3	4	4	0	0	8	0	13
4 - Emma Osborn	42	1-10	1-9	0-0	0	4	4	0	3	1	2	0	3
5 - Tiyana Schwinghammer	37	7-17	0-1	4-6	1	5	6	2	5	4	1	0	18
12 - Shavonda Bender	29	1-1	0-0	3-4	3	4	7	1	0	0	0	4	5
23 - Riley Mooney	38	5-10	3-7	3-4	1	1	2	2	3	0	2	2	16
RESERVES
2 - Lynelle Charnoski	3	0-2	0-2	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10 - Hannah Halvorson	15	2-4	0-0	1-1	1	1	2	0	1	1	1	1	5
11 - Sunny Edin	2	0-0	0-0	0-0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
24 - Ashley Gereau	14	1-3	0-0	0-0	0	2	2	2	0	0	0	1	2
TM - Team					3	2	5				0	0
TOTALS		22-60	5-24	13-17	11	22	33	11	12	6	14	8	62
		36.7%	20.8%	76.5%

Game Information

Date/Time:	March 2, 2024 - 2:00 PM
Location:	Coon Rapids, MN
Technical fouls:	Minnesota State-None ; Northland-None .