UMD Women’s Basketball Adapting Year After National Title Run

The Bulldogs will battle the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears on Thursday. Tip-off is at 7:30.

DULUTH, Minn.- The UMD women’s basketball team is in a similar spot as the men’s team as they are currently 7-2 on the year.

But unlike the men’s team, they’ve been forced to make some changes early on.

Players like Taya Hakamaki, Ella Gilbertson, and Madelyn Granica have all stepped into bigger roles for the team.

Head Coach Mandy Pearson says it’s been a different feeling around this year’s squad. She added that she goes into games not knowing who’s going to lead the team offensively.

“It’s fun for me because the last few years. We’ve been just so invested in being a great team and doing whatever it takes to be successful. They’re willing to try new things and adapt. Really the fun thing about this group is offensively we have so many different tools and they’re figuring on how to take advantage of them,” said Pearson.

“We’re just building as a team this year. Obviously, we lost Brooke and Maesyn from last year’s team. So just kind of working together to build as a team and keep improving together is our main goal,” added senior guard Taya Hakamaki.

The Bulldogs will battle the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears on Thursday. Tip-off is at 7:30.