Tuesday night was one of those nights for the Yellowjacket women's basketball team.

No matter what you do, there are just those games where things don't go your way. Shots don't drop, passes get intercepted, and no matter how hard you try, you just can't change the momentum. At Romano Gym, the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs scored the first nine points of the game and never trailed, blowing out the Yellowjackets 89-43.

Things got off on the wrong foot in the opening minute, when Sally Linzmeier (Valders, Wis./Valders), one of the best players in the country in NCAA Division III, missed a pair of shots, opening the door for the Bulldogs to jump out early.

They took advantage, building a robust lead before the Yellowjackets got on the board with a pair of Linzmeier free throws with 3:31 gone to make it a 9-2 game. After the teams traded baskets, UMD went on an 8-0 run to stretch the lead to 15. The Bulldogs continued to pour on the offense, stretching the advantage to 21 points, 30-9, with 7:58 to play in the first half.

A Linzmeier layup finally got the Yellowjackets into double figures at 30-11, but the Bulldogs quickly went ahead again by 20. The Yellowjackets came back and closed the first half strongly, however, outscoring the Bulldogs down the stretch by a 15-10 margin. Autumn Ackerman (Pine River, Minn./Pine River-Backus) got the scoring started with a pair of free throws, followed by buckets from Vanessa Lebens (Roseville, Minn./Roseville Area), Linzmeier, and Deandra Vavra (Cambridge, Minn./Cambridge-Isanti) to trim the lead to 14 with 2:07 to go in the half.

Grace Kennedy (Wausau, Wis./Newman Catholic) hit a jumper with 1:30 to go in the half, and Vavra followed with another basket to close out the half with the Yellowjackets trailing 44-28.

In the first half the Yellowjackets shot 43.5%, but the Bulldogs were even better, scoring on 51.5% of their shots. The Bulldogs also owned a heavy advantage in rebounds, pulling down 18 to the Yellowjackets' 10.

As rough as the first half was for the Yellowjackets, the second half was even rougher. The Bulldogs opened the half on a 16-0 run before Kennedy made a layup with 8:26 elapsed in the half to stop the bleeding, but the damage had been done and the deficit was too much to overcome. Dana Karlstad (Eleva, Wis./Eleva-Strum) scored the final points of the night for the Yellowjackets late in the half, but the Bulldogs continued to score, pushing the lead over 40 and time ticked off the clock.

Linzmeier led the Yellowjackets offensively with ten points, the only Yellowjacket in double figures. Lebens added nine points and Vavra seven as the Yellowjackets shot 32.6% for the game. Linzmeier and Vavra tied for the team lead in rebounds with three each. Vavra had two assists and Linzmeier had two steals, both team bests.

The Yellowjackets (1-2, 0-0 WIAC) are now off until Monday, November 25 when they will take on the College of St. Scholastica at Reif Gymnasium in Duluth. Game time against the Saints is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.