MARSHALL, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State women's basketball team used a 15-0 run to close the third quarter and open the fourth quarter to pull away and extend its winning streak to 16 straight with an 88-74 victory over Minnesota Crookston in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference basketball inside the R/A Facility on Saturday night.
 
SMSU remains tied atop the NSIC standings with Concordia-St. Paul at 18-2 and is now 24-2 overall with two regular season games remaining.
 
Bri Stoltzman, who was limited to three points in the first half, exploded in the second half with 20 points and finished with a team-high 23 points on 10 of 19 shooting with eight assists, six rebounds and two steals. Audrey Swanson recorded another double-double with 19 points and 15 rebounds, while racking up four steals. Natalie Nielsen poured in 16 points with nine rebounds, while Peyton Blandin chipped in with 14 points with three 3-pointers.
 
Emma Miller led the Golden Eagles with a career-high 41 points on 15 of 26 shooting with six 3-pointers in 10 attempts. The 41 points tied Bri Stoltzmans' 41 points earlier this year for the R/A Facility record for a women's basketball player.
 
SMSU finished the game shooting 49 percent (37 of 76) from the field, including 10 of 33 from 3-point range. The Mustangs dominated the Golden Eagles on the glass with a 45-27 rebound advantage.
 
UMC (9-17, 7-13 NSIC), which held a 15-point lead in the first quarter, closed the night shooting 46 percent (27 of 59) with eight 3-pointers.
 
UMC held a 60-56 lead with 2:35 left in the third quarter before a Blandin layup started the game-changing run. Over a four-minute span during the two quarters, SMSU made 7 of 11 field goals and held UMC to 0 for 3 shooting. Stoltzman scored eight of the final 12 points in the 15-0 run to help push SMSU's lead to 71-60 early in the fourth.
 
Following two free throws by Miller to stop the run, Stoltzman had a three-point play to extend the lead to 74-63.
 
SMSU's Kenzie Jones drilled a big 3-pointer with 6:25 left in the game to make the score 77-68, before UMC answered to with a field goal to cut the deficit to 77-70 at the 5:35 mark.
 
Stoltzman would come through big once more drilling a 3-pointer with 4:34 left followed by field goals by Swanson and Nielsen to seal the victory and push the margin to 84-70.
 
UMC was red-hot shooting in the opening quarter in building a 22-7 lead in the first seven and a half minutes and held a 27-14 lead after 10 minutes.
 
SMSU would continue to chip into the UMC lead before eventually tying the game at 33-33 with 3:20 left in the second quarter following two Brynn Busse field goals sandwiched around a 3-pointer by Blandin.
 
Blandin would later give SMSU a 41-40 advantage with 27 seconds left following a 3-pointer, but Miller made three free throws in the final seconds of the half to give UMC a 43-41 halftime advantage.
 
Tonight was the final home game in the careers for Stoltzman, Blandin and Jones as SMSU has secured a first-round bye in the NSIC tournament starting later this month.
 
SMSU will continue its search for its first NSIC regular season championship since 2002 with a road game on Friday, Feb. 21, versus UMary in Bismarck, N.D. SMSU will then close the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 22, at Northern State in Aberdeen, S.D.