BOX SCORE

DULUTH, Minn. – Minnesota Duluth broke a 19-19 tie at 8:53 in the first half and never looked back from there walking away with a 71-53 win over Southwest Minnesota State tonight in Duluth. SMSU's Tori Fink became the 17th member of the 1,000 point club in SMSU history finishing the game with seven points. The Mustangs fall to 7-18 overall and 6-15 in NSIC play while the Bulldogs improve to 14-10, 12-8 NSIC.

Fink needed just four points in the game to etch her name into the record books at SMSU. The senior finished the game with seven points and currently sits with 1,003 career points.

It was all Minnesota Duluth after halfway through the first half of the game tonight. Kelsey Hewitt finished the game leading all players with 22 points on 9 of 13 shooting. Katrina Newman added 12 points for the Bulldogs.

UMD finished the game shooting 50 percent from the floor shooting 27 of 54 from the floor. SMSU shot just 32 percent as a team after shooting just 24 percent in the first half. The Mustangs were led by Abby Kenealy who finished with 11 points and four rebounds.

Laura Kramer was the only other Mustang to score in double-digits finishing with 10 points. Kramer added five boards for SMSU.

Southwest Minnesota State went over six minutes without a basket in the first half. Fink hit two free throws to make the score 19-15 in favor of the Mustangs with 9:46 remaining in the half. SMSU would not score again until Kenealy hit one of two free throws at the three minute mark.

The Mustangs scored just seven points in the last nine minutes of the first half. Kenealy led SMSU in the first half with seven points. Fink finished with five points and four rebounds in the first 20 minutes of play.

SMSU led by eight points in the first half with just under 11 minutes to play. The Bulldogs fired back to tie the game at 19-19 and never looked back jumping out to a 10-point lead heading into the locker room.

Hewitt led all scorers in the first half shooting 4 of 6 from the floor. Hewitt added four points from the free throw line making 4 of 6 attempts. The Mustangs shot just 24 percent in the first half making 6 out of 25 attempts.


The Bulldogs jumped all over the Mustangs to begin the second half extending their lead to 20 at 46-26 with 15:15 remaining in the game.

Minnesota Duluth would lead by as much as 30 points in the second half overwhelming the Mustangs with a 65-35 lead with seven minutes remaining in the game.

The Bulldogs dominated the post scoring 30 points in the paint to SMSU's 10.

Southwest Minnesota State will return home to close out the 2010-11 season next Saturday hosting Minnesota State at 6 p.m. in the R/A Facility.