ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State University women's basketball team made a season-low 16 field goals and was held to 33 percent shooting in suffering a 61-51 loss to St. Cloud State on Friday night in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference women's basketball inside Halenbeck Hall.
 
SCSU earned its sixth straight victory and improves to 16-7 overall, 13-6 NSIC, while SMSU drops to 15-10 overall, 13-6 NSIC.
 
SMSU is now in a four-way tie for fourth-place in the league standings with three games remaining.
 
Sam Wall led the Mustangs with 17 points on 6 of 15 shooting with four 3-pointers. Bri Stoltzman was the only other SMSU player to reach double figures in scoring with 10 points.
 
SMSU struggled with foul trouble all game long as Stoltzman and Hannah Parsley both fouled out with more than eight minutes left in the game. Stoltzman entered the game leading SMSU in scoring, while Parsley ranked fourth in scoring.
 
The Mustangs made 16 of 48 field goals with nine 3-pointers on 27 attempts, while making 10 of 16 from the foul line.  
 
The Huskies, which held a 39-26 rebound advantage, closed the game shooting 38 percent (17 of 45), but made 22 of 25 free throws. Ashley Sawicki led SCSU with a game-high 20 points.
 
SMSU held an early lead at 11-9 at the four-minute mark of the first quarter, but SCSU rallied with eight straight points to build a 17-11 advantage in building an 18-16 lead after one quarter of play.
 
SCSU would hold the lead for the remainder of the first half, including hold a seven-point advantage late, but a Peyton Blandin 3-pointer cut the SMSU deficit to 30-26 at halftime.
 
SCSU pushed the lead to 35-28 early in the second half, but a Stoltzman free throw, a Wall layup and two free throws by Parsley pulled SMSU to within 35-33 midway through the third quarter.
 
SMSU extended the margin to 46-38 before Wall drilled a 3-pointer to close the quarter and cut the lead to 46-41.
 
Maddie Thorfinnson scored a layup for the Mustangs with 6:30 left in the game to cut the Huskies lead to 53-49, but it was the final field goal of the night for the Mustangs, who missed their final seven shot attempts.
 
Blandin and Madison Gehloff each grabbed a team-high five rebounds for the Mustangs, while Stoltzman dished out four assists.
 
SMSU will conclude is regular season road slate on Saturday afternoon with a 3:30 match-up at Bemidji State.