MINOT, N.D. – The Minot State women's basketball team found a spark in an unlikely place Wednesday evening to earn a win in its final non-conference game of the 2016-17 season against Mayville State.
 
Sam Brizee, a freshman from Twin Falls, Idaho, had made just one field goal in her first five games as a Beaver. Tonight she scored 13 points going 6-for-7, including 4-for-5 in the first half. The rest of the MSU team shot just 27 percent in the first two quarters.
 
"She was on fire," head coach Sheila Green Gerding said. "It was really great to see. When we were struggling to get the lid off the basket, Sam found it. It was important for her to get that going because she's so big and strong, which makes it hard to guard her. She looked like an all-star the way she would get the ball and turn to make shots."
 
"We worked a lot these last couple days on getting me to post up and be more aggressive," Brizee said. "That came tonight. People kind of had to remind me that I have a nice post move I can use. I got a few buckets from that which was great."
 
Brizee along with Diondra Denton also led the team with seven rebounds. Denton led the team with 20 points while Kori Eurich scored 15 earning both praise from Green Gerding.
 
Also high on the coach's list was her posts' performances.
 
"I'm proud of all of our posts because they spend a lot of extra time learning," Green Gerding said. "They watch game film, they want to get better and they really care. I think that paid off tonight. It was great to get good production from all of our posts."
 
Because of the high performance brought by the posts the Beavers were able to tie their season-high assists record with 19, eight coming from freshman Mariah Payne.
 
"We knew that Mayville really extends their forwards out and they go one-on-one inside," Green Gerding said. "We needed our posts to respond by sealing and our guards to see them and get them the ball. We also had some plays where our posts would kick out and find someone open as well."
 
Two more keys leading to the MSU victory was the defensive play and getting to the free throw line. The Beavers had a season-high three blocks by three separate players while Mayville State turned the ball over a total of 23 times.
 
Minot State ran their man defense with added emphasis on communication which was visible from both the players on the court and on the sidelines.
 
"I think we just needed personal responsibility guarding our man," Green Gerding said. "We kept track on the bench if our players weren't jumping to the ball, talking to each other, listening to the scout and taking away their right hand or boxing out. If you weren't doing those things you got three strikes and had to come out. We only had that happen a couple times, but our players were talking more and were more aware of those things. We made some good strides in the right direction."
 
On the other end of the court MSU got to the free throw line 25 times and converted on 23 of the attempts, which were both season-highs for the Beavers tonight.
 
"We were 12-for-12 alone in the third quarter, which is when we took the lead," Green Gerding said. "That was pretty big. We were patient tonight and either got the ball inside or drove in to get those fouls. We didn't settle for outside shots."
 
Green Gerding said it was huge for her team to get the win, especially against a team running a zone defense because they will see that in their first conference game against Mary. Brizee had a more candid reaction to the win.
 
"It was awesome," Brizee said.
 
Minot State will travel to Mary on Saturday, November 26 to compete in its first NSIC game. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m.
 
About Minot State
Minot State University is a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and NCAA Division II offering 14 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletics programs. The NSIC is a premier NCAA DII, 16-member conference featuring teams in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa. The Beavers are the only public NCAA Division II institution in the state of North Dakota.