MINOT, N.D. – Jenna Borchers scored a team-high 17 points with five 3-pointers to pace the Southwest Minnesota State women's basketball team to a 75-58 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference road victory over Minot State on Saturday afternoon inside the Minot State Dome.
 
SMSU, which suffered a loss to UMary on Friday night, improves to 10-5 overall, 7-3 NSIC, while MSU drops to 6-10 overall, 2-8 NSIC.
 
Borchers was joined in double-figure scoring by three other teammates as Hannah Parsley poured in 13 points on 6 of 10 shooting, while Madison Gehloff added 12 points with Sam Wall chipping in with 11 points.
 
Gehloff also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and dished out four assists.
 
SMSU dominated the boards holding a 34-18 rebound advantage with 16 offensive rebounds, leading to a 24-4 advantage in second chance points.
 
The Mustangs finished the game shooting 44 percent (29 of 66) from the field, including 11 of 34 from 3-point range.  
 
The Beavers closed the game shooting 47 percent (24 of 51) including 2 of 10 from 3-point range. Kate Head led MSU with 20 points on 8 of 15 shooting.
 
The two teams played to a 9-9 deadlock in the opening five minutes before Borchers drilled the team's first 3-pointer of the game and SMSU never trailed again.
 
SMSU built a 19-13 lead after one quarter of play and later held a 23-21 advantage midway through the second quarter before using a big run to build a double-digit lead.
 
Borchers started the run with a 3-pointer and was followed by a Bri Stoltzman field goal and back-to-back 3-pointers by Parsley and Peyton Blandin to expand the margin to 34-21 with 2:20 remaining in the half. Sam Wall closed the half with SMSU's seventh 3-pointer to give the Mustangs a 40-27 halftime advantage.
 
SMSU started the second half strong with early field goals by Parsley and Gehloff to help build a 53-33 lead with just over six minutes left in the third quarter following a Wall layup.
 
MSU would later trim the deficit to 57-42, but SMSU answered with a Gehloff layup and a Kenzie Jones 3-pointer in the final seconds to give the Mustangs a 62-42 lead after three quarters.
 
The Beavers wouldn't go away in the final quarter and eventually pulled to within 65-51 at the 5:33 mark, but Borchers connected with a big layup at the 4:25 mark to help fight back the comeback attempt.
 
SMSU returns to Marshall next weekend to open a four-game home stand inside the R/A Facility. The Mustangs take on MSU Moorhead on Friday with game time set for 5:30 p.m., while on Saturday the Mustangs face Northern State at 3:30 p.m.