FAYETTE, IOWA – The Southwest Minnesota State women's basketball team had its two-game winning streak snapped on Friday night suffering a 68-51 loss to Upper Iowa University inside Dorman Gymnasium.
 
SMSU, 11-10 overall, 8-9 NSIC, shot a season-low 25 percent (16 of 63) from the field, including 16 percent (4 of 25) from 3-point range.
 
UIU improves to 6-17 overall, 3-14 NSIC, and is now 5-7 at home. The Peacocks closed the game shooting 37 percent (25 of 67) and held a 57-32 rebound advantage.
 
Abuk Akoi and Meleah Reinhart each led the Mustangs with 11 points with Akoi grabbing a team-high eight rebounds.
 
SMSU scored the game's first field goal, but it was all UIU for the rest of the opening quarter. UIU would use an 11-1 run to build 23-7 advantage before SMSU rallied with the final six points of the quarter to cut the deficit to 23-13.
 
The Mustangs would make the score 24-17 early in the second quarter following back-to-back field goals by Akoi, but the Peacocks answered with a 10-3 spurt to extend the lead to 34-20. Just like in the first quarter, the Mustangs closed the second quarter strong with two free throws by Bri Stoltzman and a long-range last-second 3-pointer by Erin Baxter to cut the UIU lead to 34-25 at halftime.
 
SMSU made just 6 of 30 field goals in the opening half, including 3 of 15 from 3-point range.
 
SMSU would pull to within 36-29 early in the third following a Reinhart field goal, but once again UIU had an answer and scored six straight points to build the lead back to double-digits.
 
Stoltzman made the score 48-39 with just over two minutes remaining in the third, but UIU countered with 10 straight points to close the third quarter and to open the fourth, to push the lead to 58-39.
 
SMSU concludes the weekend road trip on Saturday with a 3:30 p.m. tip-off versus Winona State.