BOX SCORE

MARSHALL, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State junior Heather Smith scored a season-high 22 points connecting on five three-pointers to lead the Mustangs to a 73-62 non-conference victory over Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) on Friday night in Marshall.

SMSU (7-2) is off to its best start to a season since the 2004-05 season and has pushed its winning streak to four in a row, the longest since the 2007-08 season.

Smith finished the game shooting 7 of 10 from the field, including 5 of 7 from three-point range.  Smith also added seven rebound, six steals and three assists.  She is the first SMSU player with more than five steals in a game since Megan Wittkop recorded five on Feb. 23, 2007.

Mustang sophomore Abby Kenealy added a career-high 20 points on 10 of 19 shooting, while junior Tori Fink rounded out the SMSU double figure scoring with 11 points.

SMSU held a lead for a majority of the first half and built a 13-point lead late into the half but solid outside shooting by DWU (5-10) kept the Tigers in the contest.  DWU drilled nine three-pointers on 14 attempts in the first half and trimmed SMSU's lead to 34-29 at halftime.  Smith led SMSU with 11 first half points shooting 4 of 5 from the field, including three three-pointers.

SMSU jumped out to an 11-point, 44-33 lead with 16 minutes and 36 seconds remaining in the game, but DWU wouldn't go away and cut the SMSU lead to 46-39 with just under 14 minutes left in the contest.

The Mustangs pushed the lead back to double digits at 53-41 with 11 minutes left but once again DWU answered and closed the SMSU lead to 55-50 with 7:26 left.  SMSU held a 58-52 lead with six minutes left but that was as close as they would come as the Mustangs reeled off a 7-1 run over the next three minutes to seal the victory.

Allison Johnson led DWU with 13 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals.

SMSU will return to action on Dec. 29 hosting Clarke College (Iowa) at 7 p.m.