Having won two of their first three games of the 2011-2012 season, the UW-Superior women's basketball team entered Tuesday night's tilt with UMD hoping to make a statement against an NCAA Division II foe in the Bulldogs.

Unfortunately for the Yellowjackets, the Bulldogs proved to have other plans in mind however, jumping out to an early lead and never looking back on the way to posting a 74-54 in at Romano Gymnasium in Duluth.

UMD started fast in the opening minutes, taking a 9-0 lead with 16:45 left in the first half behind five quick points from Shelly Stemper.

The Yellowjackets (2-2) would cut the lead to 11-4 with 15:08 remaining in the opening half following a jumper from Deandra Vavra (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti).

But the Bulldogs (3-1) would steadily pull away from there, going on a 9-0 run to take a 20-4 lead after two free throws by Katrina Newman with 11:30 remaining in the opening half.

UW-Superior would again cut into the deficit, outscoring UMD 8-3 over the next few minutes behind a layup from Hailey Hart (Osseo, Wis./Osseo-Fairchild) and a free throw from Keely Deadrick (Esko, Minn./Esko) to cut the lead to 23-12 with 7:22 showing on the clock.

UMD would not flinch down the stretch of the opening half, again pulling away before taking their largest lead of the half at 36-17 after a layup by Jessica Newman before taking a 36-19 lead into the intermission.

The Yellowjackets would come out with more energy in the second half, cutting the deficit to 39-28 on a three-pointer by Connie Urmanski (Edgar, Wis./Edgar). 

UMD would maintain from there, taking their largest lead of the evening at 69-45 on a layup from Megan Lueck with just 4:20 remaining in regulation.

UW-Superior was led by Urmanski with 18 points while Sally Linzmeier (Valders, Wis./Valders) added 11.

The Bulldogs were paced by Stemper with 16 points while Katrina Newman and Maria Almquist each added 15.

UW-Superior will host NorthwesternCollege on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Mertz Mortorelli Gymnasium.