BSU unable to run with the dogs

I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.

Feb. 7, 1999

By Devlyn Brooks

The BSU women's basketball team kept the hounds at bay for one half, but didn't have the stamina to do it for an entire game.

After a fitful start, the Northern State Wolves (11-11, 6-2 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) and their deep bench finally wore down a small Beavers team, to post a 72-62 victory Saturday at BSU Gymnasium.

In the first half, the Beavers (9-13, 2-6 NSIC), who have been trimmed from injuries and other matters to just nine dressing players, played the best half of basketball they have played since probably late December.

They shot 57 percent from the field, 73 percent from the free throw line, outrebounded the Wolves and generally kept Northern State's scorers in check.

The result was a 34-31 Beaver lead at halftime.

But just four minutes into the second period, Northern's strategy of wearing down the Beavers started working.

The Wolves outscored Bemidji 16-5 in that stretch to go up 49-39, and the Beavers would never cut the deficit to less than five points again.

"We expected a close game (right away), because they always play us close," Northern State's coach Curt Fredrickson said. "But we knew they were hurting depth-wise. So we wanted to pick up the pace and take advantage of that."

Fredrickson said he wanted to fatigue the Beavers so that they would commit more errors, and that is what helped the Wolves late in the game.

"When you get tired you travel and make bad passes," he said. "We got some key turnovers off our pressure, and we've got to get (those) turnovers because we depend upon our quickness. We don't have a lot of big bodies."

By full-court pressing the Beavers from the opening tip and pushing up the floor in their transition game, the Wolves finally just wore BSU out.

Whether the turnovers were caused by fatigue or not, BSU coach Doreen Zierer knows that was the downfall of her squad once again.

"We threw the ball away. We made some bad decisions and put ourselves on defense too many times," she said. "We just panicked with the ball from time to time. If you take away 10 of those turnovers, that's probably 20 points."

The contest as a whole, however, was an improvement for the Beavers who notched only their second win in the NSIC versus Winona State.

Prior to the win, the Beavers had lost five straight to NSIC foes, and played some bad basketball.

But Zierer said she saw a lot of positives in the Northern game.

"We had seven people score for us, and we made the shots we are taking," she said. "The turnovers are the only thing I'm really disappointed about."