BOX SCORE
MARSHALL, Minn. – Minnesota State Moorhead got a double-double from Meghan Rettke and outrebounded Southwest Minnesota State 51-29 to hand the Mustangs a 67-55 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference loss Friday night in Marshall.
MSUM improves to 16-5 (10-4 NSIC), while SMSU drops to 13-8 (7-7 NSIC).
The 22-rebound difference is the largest SMSU has experienced this season.
Rettke poured in a game-high 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Dragons, who lost to the Mustangs earlier this season in Moorhead.
Abby Kenealy finished with a team-high 16 points for SMSU. She scored 14 of those points in the first half.
Tori Fink also reached double figures, scoring 10 points. The junior also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
Megan Stadler handed out four assists in the loss, moving into the No. 2 spot at SMSU in career assists. She passed Marry Roddel's (2000-2004) mark of 425 career assists.
MSUM was relentless on the glass in the opening half. The Dragons outrebounded the Mustangs 39-26 and found themselves 11 second-chance points.
Despite the lopsided stat, SMSU hung with MSUM for most of the first half. It wasn't until the five-minute mark when the Dragons put together a 10-2 run that put them up 34-23 with just more than a minute left before the break.
A 3-pointer from Kaycee Charrete with five seconds left capped a small 5-0 run to finish the half with the Dragons leading 39-26.
MSUM shot 46.9 percent in the first half. Rettke led the Dragons with 12 first-half points.
Kenealy's 14 first-half points paced the Mustangs.
The 13-point difference was too much for the Mustangs to erase. The Dragons stretched their lead to as many as 19 points deep into the contest. Alison Nash-Gerlach's layup with 2:05 left gave MSUM a 19-point lead at 67-48.
SMSU committed just eight turnovers in the loss—the Mustangs' lowest in the category since their season opening game against Truman State (Mo.).
Of MSUM's 51 rebounds, 16 were offensive. Those led to 17 points for the Dragons.
The Mustangs shot just 3 of 16 from behind the arc. The 18.8 percent performance was SMSU's lowest since Nov. 21 when SMSU also shot 3 of 16 against Hillsdale (Mich.).
SMSU finishes this four-game homestand tomorrow at 6 p.m. , hosting Minnesota, Crookston.
