EDMOND, Okla. – The No. 18 ranked Southwest Minnesota State women's basketball team earned its second straight victory with a 66-51 road win over Central Oklahoma on Friday night at the Central Region Challenge inside Hamilton Field House.
 
Audrey Swanson led the Mustangs with 23 points on 8 of 17 shooting with seven rebounds and three assists. Natalie Nielsen added 13 points and recorded her second double-double of the season with 13 rebounds. Kylan Gerads also reached double figures in scoring with 11 points, while grabbing six rebounds.
 
SMSU (2-1) shot 37 percent (22 of 59) from the field, while connecting on 10 of 23 from 3-point range. The Mustangs held a 45-40 rebound edge over the Bronchos, who were playing their season opening game.
 
UCO closed the game shooting 30 percent (18 of 61), while making 4 of 15 from 3-point land.
 
SMSU jumped out to a 10-point lead in the opening six minutes with Gerads drilling a 3-pointer at the 4-minute mark to give the Mustangs a 12-2 lead. SMSU limited UCO to 24 percent shooting in the first 10 minutes in building a 17-9 lead after one quarter of play.
 
Allie Haabala hit one of her two 3-pointers of the game with six minutes left in the second quarter to give SMSU a 23-16 lead, but UCO would fight back and eventually take its lone lead of the game with 2:49 remaining at 29-27.
 
SMSU quickly answered with Brynn Busse tying the game with a layup before Swanson drilled a 3-pointer with under a minute left in the half to build a 32-29 halftime advantage for the Mustangs.
 
SMSU held UCO without a field goal in the opening three minutes of the third quarter to build a 38-30 advantage following Nicole Maenke's lone 3-pointer of the game.
 
SMSU maintained a 39-36 lead with just under five minutes left in the third before Swanson started a late quarter run with a 3-pointer followed by 3-pointers by Haabala and Gerads to extend the lead to double-digits at 48-38. Haabala made one free throw with six seconds left in the quarter to make the score 49-40 after 30 minutes.
 
UCO scored the first two points of the fourth quarter, but SMSU answered with a 10-1 run with eight points by Swanson to push the lead to 59-43 with 5:45 remaining and the Mustangs never looked back in defeating the Bronchos for the second straight season.
 
Nykaiya Dillard scored a game-high 18 points and added four steals to pace UCO.
 
SMSU closes the two-day event on Saturday with a 1 p.m. match up versus Washburn (Kan.).