COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Minot State women’s hockey club finished its dominating run through the pool-play portion of the ACHA Division II National Tournament with another offensive explosion.

The West Region No. 2-seeded Beavers (24-4-1) blitzed through Montclair State, 10-1, Friday afternoon in Columbus to win its third game in three days to comfortably reach the national semifinals for the second straight season.

In pool play, the Beavers outscored their three opponents 25-7.

Eight different MSU skaters scored on Friday with junior Vanessa Grimstad and freshman Sami Jo Henry scoring twice.

The Beavers jumped out to a 4-1 lead after the first period with Grimstad’s two goals, Mackenzie Balogh finding the back of the net and junior captain Cassidy McGree scoring on the power play.

Grimstad has racked up a team-leading seven goals in the tournament with Henry right behind her with six goals. McGree and Balogh have each netted three goals in three games.

A trio of freshman – Henry, Minot native Bryanna Bergeron and Nadya Keenan – all scored in the second period.

It was Bergeron’s second goal of the tournament and a milestone moment for Keenan with her first career goal as a Beaver.

MSU scored three more times in the third period: Henry, junior Lauren Michayluk and junior Tylar Holland.

Former Minot High goaltender Jaden Flexhaug, seeing her first action in the national tournament, made 15 saves in net.

MSU outshot Montclair State, 34-16.

The Beavers now enter the knockout round of the tournament with a single-game elimination semifinal contest against North Dakota State University. Puck drop is at 2:45 p.m. (central time) this afternoon at the Chiller Easton in Columbus.

The championship game is Sunday at 1:15 p.m.

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Minot State’s Rudolph named first team all-district

Minot State senior Tyler Rudolph has been named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches 2018 Division II All-District team the organization announced on Friday. Rudolph was one of six players named First Team All-Central District.

Rudolph becomes the first Minot State player in the NCAA Division II era to be named First Team All-District by the NABC after being named Second Team All-District last season.

Rudolph was joined on the first team by Ryan Bruggeman of Southwest Minnesota State, CJ Carr of Missouri Southern, Gage Davis of St. Cloud State, Justin Pitts of Northwest Missouri State and Brady Skeens of Washburn.

The second team was comprised of Jon Averkamp of St. Cloud State, Charlie Brown of Minnesota State, Jhonathan Dunn of Southern Nazarene, Trey Lansman of Nebraska-Kearney and Ian Smith of Northern State.

Rudolph has been tabbed First Team All-Central Region by the Division II Conference Commissioners Association, First Team All-District by the NABC, Player of the Year by the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and First Team All-NSIC this year.

Rudolph led the Beavers in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage. He is currently third in the NSIC averaging 21.0 points per game, ranks fifth in the conference averaging 7.7 rebounds per contest and is third in the league shooting 58.4 percent from the floor.

Rudolph broke the Minot State career scoring record when he tallied 13 points against Upper Iowa on Jan. 27 in the Minot State Dome and finished his career with 1,987 points. He also broke the MSU career rebounding record when he collected eight rebounds at Wayne State on Dec. 9 and he totaled 921 in his career.

Rudolph, who was named the NSIC North Player of the Week five times this season, also finished second in the NSIC career scoring with 1,494 points which trailed only Daniel Jansen of Augustana who had 1,521 points in his career.

This Bismarck native reached double figures in scoring in 29 of the 30 games played this season including scoring a career-high 40 points in a victory over Mayville State on Nov. 14. He topped 20 points in a game on 15 occasions and had nine double-doubles.

Located in Kansas City, Mo., the NABC was founded in 1927 by Forrest “Phog” Allen, the legendary basketball coach at the University of Kansas. Allen, a student of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, organized coaches into this collective group to serve as Guardians of the Game. The NABC currently has nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men’s basketball coaches. All members of the NABC are expected to uphold the core values of being a Guardian of the Game by bringing attention to the positive aspects of the sport of basketball and the role coaches play in the academic and athletic lives of today’s student-athletes. The four core values of being a Guardian of the Game are advocacy, leadership, service and education.

–Minot State athletics

Beavers softball splits day one of Emporia State tournament

EMPORIA, Kan. — Kyla Larson homered and drove in four runs and Minot State rallied from a 9-2 deficit to defeat Central Oklahoma 10-9 and gain a split of its two games on the opening day of the Emporia State Tournament.

The Beavers opened the the tournament by scoring eight runs over the final two innings to post a 10-9 win and then dropped a 10-1 decision to Northeastern State in the second game of the day.

After falling behind Central Oklahoma 1-0, Minot State tied the game at 1-1 when Ashley Hill belted her first home run of the season in the top of the second inning.

The Beavers took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third inning when Isis Cabral homered with two outs.

Central Oklahoma then took a seemingly safe 9-2 lead by scoring three runs in the bottom of the third inning and five times in the bottom of the fifth inning.

The Beavers got back into the game in the top of the sixth inning by scoring four runs to trim the lead to 9-6.

Tori Zimmermann hit an RBI single that scored Lauren Cowden and Larson ripped a three-run homer that plated Cabral and pinch-runner Melissa Estrada ahead of her.

The Beavers then capped the comeback by scoring four times in the top of the seventh inning.

With one out, Minot State loaded the bases on a walk and two Central Oklahoma errors. Zimmermann and Hill hit back-to-back RBI singles to cut the lead to 9-8 and the Beavers tied the game at 9-9 when Larson drew a bases-loaded walk.

Minot State pushed across the winning run on a fielder’s choice where pinch-runner Amanda Izzo scored from second base.

Kylie Patrick then nailed down the win for the Beavers by pitching out of trouble. With runners on second and third, Patrick induced a line out to centerfield to end the game.

Minot State will face Pittsburg State and Emporia State today in the second day of action.

–Minot State athletics