BOX SCORE
MARSHALL, Minn. – Despite shooting a season-high 55.1 percent – its highest since Jan. 4, 2011 versus MSU Moorhead, the Southwest Minnesota State women's basketball team dropped its ninth straight contest to Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foe St. Cloud State, 77-70. With the loss, SMSU drops to 1-12 overall, 0-8 in the NSIC, while St. Cloud State improves to 11-1 overall, 7-1 in the NSIC.
The score was knotted at 70 with 2:43 remaining but the Mustangs failed to score for the rest of the ballgame and the Huskies finished with a 7-0 run to take its fifth straight contest over SMSU dating back to Dec. 10, 2010.
The Mustangs were led by performances from
Bree Holleman (17 points, 7 rebounds) and
Ellen Degler (16 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds). SMSU's season leader in scoring,
Alison Nagel managed just four points in the loss.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from
Bree Holleman and
Megan DeRuyter with 6:39 remaining in the half put SMSU ahead by 10 points - its largest lead of the half. SCSU would respond by closing out the half with a 22-8 run capped by a Jessica Benson steal. Benson would finish the break-away play by netting a layup to put SCSU up 36-32 with 20 seconds left.
In the first half, SMSU and SCSU both shot an identical 52 (13-25) percent from the floor. SCSU hit 4 of 7 jumpers from behind the arc, while SMSU hit 3 of 5.
SCSU would open the second half on an 8-2 run to push its lead to 12 points. SMSU would respond with a 22-4 run from the 16:21 minute mark to the 10:29 minute mark -capped off by a
Hannah Beeler 3-pointer. From there, SMSU fizzled - scoring just 12 points in the last ten minutes. Down by five,
Bree Holleman's missed 3-pointer with 33 seconds left sealed SMSU's ninth straight loss.
SCSU's Jessica Benson scored a career-high 32 points as she was 12 of 21 from the floor, including 2 of 5 from behind the arc. SMSU outrebounded the opponent for just the third time on the season as the Mustangs held a 27-23 advantage. SCSU converted 23 of 26 shots from the charity stripe, while the Mustangs connected on 9 of 13.
SMSU will host Minnesota Duluth tomorrow at the R/A Facility with tip-off slated for 5 p.m.
