Minnesota Duluth women’s basketball player Brooke Olson was asked if “she was feeling it” on Friday night at Romano Gym, but before she could answer, teammate Kaylee Nelson stepped in with an assist.

“Yeah, she was,” Nelson said with a smile.

That’s the way Friday went, with teammates helping teammates. Olson scored a career-high 28 points and UMD had 19 assists in its 69-58 NSIC victory over Minnesota State-Mankato.

“That’s what this team is known for," Olson said. "Unselfish basketball, that’s what this team is all about. That’s exactly what we did tonight. This win was on everyone.”

Junior point guard Ann Simonet was the No. 1 offensive distributor with a career-high 11 assists as the Bulldogs (13-4 overall, 10-1 NSIC) continued their best conference start since going 12-0 in NSIC play in 1995-96.

A lot of Olson’s baskets were followed by her pointing at a teammate, as if to say, “Thanks for finding me.”

“Isn’t that fun?” UMD basketball coach Mandy Pearson said of Olson giving props to her teammates. “She means it, she absolutely means it, because some days she makes those passes and other days her teammates find her.”

Olson, a 6-foot-2 sophomore from Rice Lake, Wis., displayed every facet of her game, working the corners like a hockey player and knocking down 5 of 8 3-pointers. She also had six rebounds and a key late steal. She had 18 of her points in the second half as UMD outscored the Mavericks 23-14 in the third quarter to take control.

“Brooke can shoot it, and hopefully she continues to do so. She came out on a mission today, but you have to say hats off to her teammates, as well. They really took care of the basketball and found her. You saw Mankato’s defense. They were all over the place."

Pearson even had her assistants play defense this week to imitate the swarming defense of the Mavericks (9-6, 6-5).

“It’s hard to emulate Mankato’s defense because they’re so aggressive, but we did a really good job of slowing down and handling their pressure,” Pearson said.

Maesyn Thiesen added 12 points for UMD and Sarah Grow chipped in 10 points and nine rebounds.

Despite UMD having a pair of 6-2 players, Minnesota State-Mankato was even bigger, with 6-5 sophomore center Kristi Fett clogging up the middle and posting team-highs of 12 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. The Mavericks held a 43-32 rebounding advantage but couldn’t overcome 21 turnovers and 38.7 percent shooting compared to 48.3 for the Bulldogs.

“Duluth’s passing was the difference, without a doubt,” Mankato coach Emilee Thiesse said. “They definitely played like a great basketball team out there. They were finding open players and creating a lot — 19 assists? That’s just great team basketball. Credit to them.”

Friday was dubbed “White Out Romano,” with the idea being for fans to come out in white shirts. It didn’t exactly take off, in part because of the white out outdoors: snowy conditions started Friday afternoon and made travel conditions slippery. While the crowd gradually trickled in and was relatively strong for the men’s game, the women’s crowd was sparse. It’s too bad. The Bulldogs are now 8-0 at home this season and appear to be building on last season’s 23-7 record and NCAA Division II tournament appearance.

And they won Friday without one of their key players: senior forward Katie Stark of Hayward, who injured her right knee in UMD’s 81-75 overtime victory at Minot State last Saturday. Stark, who was in street clothes Friday, hopes to be back next week.

In the meantime, the other two parts of UMD’s interchangeable three-prong inside force, Olson and her fellow 6-2 forward, Grow, appear to be just fine. They got an assist inside on Friday from junior Payton Kahl, a guard who played out of position while Stark is on the mend.

“Katie is a beast on the boards, so we had to come out and rebound, and we did that,” Olson said. “Everyone had a hand in it, and I felt like we really came together on defense. It was just a great team win.”

Minnesota State-Mankato — Tayla Stuttley 1-5 0-0 2, Taylor Drost 3-7 0-0 6, Krist Fett 6-10 0-2 12, Joey Batt 0-1 0-0 0, Kirstin Klitzke 3-7 5-5 11, Maddy Olson 2-7 1-1 5, Shea Fuller 1-6 2-2 5, Brooke Tonsfeldt 3-5 0-4 6, Emmaline Polson 2-6 0-0 4, Rachel Shumski 1-6 0-0 2, Rylee Menster 1-1 0-0 2, Anna Wanek 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 24-62 8-14 58.
Minnesota Duluth — Brooke Olson 11-19 1-4 28, Sarah Grow 4-9 2-3 10, Ann Simonet 2-7 0-0 4, Payton Kahl 2-7 0-0 4, Maesyn Thiesen 5-8 1-2 12, Taylor Schneider 3-7 1-2 7, Taytum Rhoades 1-2 0-0 2, Kaylee Nelson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 29-60 5-11 69.
Halftime — UMD 27, MSU 24. 3-point goals — MSU 2-13 (Stuttley 0-2, Drost 0-2, Klitzke 0-1, Olson 0-2, Fuller 1-3, Tonsfeldt 0-1, Shumski 0-1, Wanek 1-1), UMD 6-16 (Olson 5-8, Simonet 0-2, Kahl 0-2, Thiesen 1-2, Schneider 0-2). Fouls — MSU 17, UMD 12. Fouled out — None. Rebounds — MSU 43 (Fett 10), UMD 32 (Grow 9). Assists — MSU 6 (Shumski 2), UMD 19 (Simonet 11). Turnovers — MSU 21 (Stuttley 5), UMD 15 (Simonet 5).

Minnesota State-Mankato 67, Minnesota Duluth 65

The Mavericks came into Friday’s contest with a .500 record, but don’t let the record fool you.

They’re for real.

And while UMD wound up losing, there are positives to take from the Bulldogs’ comeback after being down by as many as 15 points in the second half, including a seven-point deficit with just 25 seconds remaining. Senior guard Trevor Entwisle’s halfcourt heave would have won it but missed right.

“Mankato was picked to win our league for a reason,” UMD coach Justin Wieck said. “They went through some injuries early in the year but are starting to figure things out. They’ve got four or five all-conference guys, Division I players all over the floor. They’ve won five out of six now and are as good as it gets in our league.”

UMD (13-4, 8-3) came back without its top player, no less, as senior forward Brandon Myer of Superior didn’t play in the second half after suffering a concussion from a big collision under the hoop in the first half. Freshman Drew Blair led the Bulldogs with 21 points and seven rebounds while Alex Illikainen (13 points) and Logan Rohrscheib (10) also scored in double figures. Entwisle, meanwhile, sparked the frantic comeback with a pair of free throws and another play where he missed the second free throw but got the rebound and put in a layup.

Kelby Kramer, a 6-10 University of Montana transfer, had 16 points and 14 rebounds as the Mavericks (9-8, 7-4) held a 44-33 rebounding advantage while holding UMD to 33.9 percent shooting. The Bulldogs dropped their first home game this season and are now 8-1 at Romano.

“We knew they were going to be a challenge and they did a great job defensively on us in the first half,” Wieck said. “We didn’t play great, but that’s what they do to you. They’re a dang good team.”

• Yalim Olcay, a senior forward from Izmir, Turkey, who transfered to UMD before this season from Western Carolina, had a special guest in attendance Friday as his mother arrived just in time to watch her son play for the first time as a Bulldog. With time presumably tight due to the weather, she even had her suitcase.

Minnesota State-Mankato — Ryland Holt 2-5 0-0 4, Cameron Kirksey 1-5 2-2 5, Kelby Kramer 8-10 0-0 16, Corvon Seales 6-13 0-0 14, Kevin Krieger 4-13 4-5 15, Malik Willingham 2-11 1-2 6, Jamal Nixon 1-3 0-0 3, Landon Wolfe 0-1, 0-0 0, Carter Asche 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 26-64 7-9 67.
Minnesota Duluth — Brandon Myer 1-5 2-2 5, Alex Illikainen 5-14 2-2 13, Logan Rohrscheib 2-5 4-4 10, Trevor Entwisle 1-6 5-6 7, Drew Blair 7-17 6-7 21, Hunter Plamann 1-4 0-0 3, Jack Middleton 1-2 1-1 3, Mason Steffen 0-1 0-0 0, Charles Gorres 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 19-56 20-22 65.
Halftime — MSU 33, UMD 22. 3-point goals — MSU 8-28 (Holt 0-1, Kirksey 1-2, Seales 2-7, Krieger 3-8, Willingham 1-7, Nixon 1-1, Wolfe 0-1, Asche 0-1), UMD 7-28 (Myer 1-3, Illikainen 1-6, Rohrscheib 2-4, Entwisle 0-3, Blair 1-7, Plamann 1-2, Middleton 0-1, Gorres 1-2). Fouls — MSU 19, UMD 12. Fouled out — None. Rebounds — MSU 44 (Kramer 14), UMD 33 (Blair 7). Assists — MSU 10 (Willingham 4), UMD 8 (Entwisle 3). Turnovers — MSU 12 (Kirksey, Seales 4), UMD 8 (Illikainen, Entwisle, Blair 2).