MINOT, N.D. – Minot State University had another good start Friday.
Unfortunately, the scoring drought that has plagued the Beavers as of late, showed up midway through the first half.
The University of Sioux Falls outscored Minot State 29-13 over the final 12 minutes of the first half and never relinquished the lead to take a 71-61 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference women's basketball game Friday at the Minot State Dome.
The loss by the Beavers (5-4 overall, 0-4 NSIC) was the team's fourth in a row as the Cougars, who received votes in the latest USA Today Women's Basketball Coaches Poll, snapped MSU's eight-game home winning streak dating back to last season.
"When you play a great team, you can't make mistakes," said MSU head coach
Sheila Green Gerding. "Any mistake you make is probably going to come back and nip you in the butt. You've got to play close to a perfect game."
MSU led 18-8 on a
Christina Boag (Sr., F, Tamworth, Australia) layup off a feed from
Diondra Denton (So., G, Great Falls, Mont.). Boag scored eight of her team-high 23 points in the run and was one of five MSU players to score early.
But USF (8-0, 4-0) needed just four minutes to tie the game at 22 on a layup by Jaicee Ulmer and Ulmer pushed the lead to nine with another layup five minutes later as MSU went cold.
"They're a scoring team," Green Gerding said. "They're going to have people score from all over."
Boag got MSU to within four early in the second half but USF pushed the lead to double figures midway through the second and MSU never got it under.
USF's Sam Knecht led all scorers with 24 points and added six rebounds. Ulmer added 13 and Taylor Varsho scored 10 points and pulled down five boards. Teagan Molden finished just shy of a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.
Boag added 11 rebounds, three steals, two blocks and two assists to go along with her season high points.
Katie Hardy (Sr., F, Fairview, N.D.) scored 13 points, while
Amanda Sansaver (Jr., G, Wolf Point, Mont.) finished with eight for the Beavers in the loss.
"Bottom line is we played our rear off," Green Gerding said. "We played extremely hard tonight and I'm proud of our effort. If we can play like that, we continue to improve and cut down on our turnovers, make a few more layups then we'll get back there."
Minot State will be back at the Dome Saturday with a 4 p.m. matchup with Southwest Minnesota State.
– GO BEAVERS –
