MARSHALL, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State women's basketball team closed the regular season with a nail-biter 70-66 loss to MSU Moorhead in NSIC college women's basketball on Saturday afternoon inside the R/A Facility. 

As a result, SMSU finishes the regular season 17-11 overall and 15-7 in NSIC play. MSU Moorhead closes the regular season 12-15 overall, 12-10 NSIC.

Bri Stoltzman led the Mustangs with 22 points while filling the stat sheet with six rebounds, six assists, and five steals. Sam Wall and Peyton Blandin, the only other Mustangs to score in double figures, added 14 points apiece in the loss. Wall broke her own single-season 3-point record with four makes from beyond the arc.

Natalie Jens led the Dragons with 13 points on 5 of 14 shooting with four rebounds and three assists. MSUM held the 44-39 rebounding advantage as well. 

The Mustangs kicked off scoring with a deep ball from Hannah Parsley to set the tone early. Shortly afterward, Peyton Blandin knocked down a corner three to put SMSU up 6-0 at 8:04 in the first quarter. Sam Wall drained another three for nine unanswered Mustang points before MSUM's Maya Metcalf stopped the bleeding with a deep ball of her own. The final six minutes of the first frame went the way of the Mustangs. SMSU garnered a 12-7 run thanks to 3 of 7 shooting on the Dragons side. 

MSUM kicked off the second quarter of play on a 13-3 run backed by five different players and six shots at the foul line. The Dragons out-scored the Mustangs 24-10 in the second frame, limiting SMSU to 20 percent shooting (3 of 15) including one make from deep. The Dragons out-rebounded SMSU 22-17 in the first half.

SMSU opened the second half of play shooting 100 percent from the field and foul line and led 41-36 with just under two minutes left in the third quarter. MSUM countered in the next three minutes, pursuing a 7-3 run to cut the deficit to 44-43 going into the media timeout.

Following the media timeout, the Dragons went on another run to keep themselves in the game, closing the third quarter down 51-49.

The Dragons controlled the first five minutes of the final frame, using an 11-7 run to take the 60-58 lead at 5:34 in the fourth quarter. After the break, the Mustangs gave everything they had to stick with the lead. Blandin and Wall made a pair of huge 3-pointers to give the Mustangs momentum, but the effort proved to be too little. MSU Moorhead locked down SMSU in the last two minutes to close out the game while finishing on a 10-0 run.

SMSU hosts an undetermined opponent in the first round of the NSIC Tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 28, with tip-off time also to be announced.