MINOT, N.D. – Minot State University shook off a slow start to outscore Minnesota Duluth 61-43 over the final three quarters to complete a big comeback, winning 78-72 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference women's basketball Friday at the Minot State Dome.

It was the Beavers first NSIC win at home and was one of the first games in more than two months MSU was at full strength.

"We were hungry for a win," said MSU head coach Sheila Green Gerding. "This has been a long time coming, we've been close a couple of times. But the kids have a great attitude and we've kept working."

MSU (4-21 overall, 2-17 NSIC) trailed by as many as 18 points late in the first quarter. UMD (13-10, 7-12) hit all seven of its first quarter 3-pointers to score 29 points over the first 10 minutes.

"We started out in man-to-man and got lost a couple times in transition," Green Gerding said. "(UMD's) start happened so quickly, they were sizzling, but we switched into our zone and that slowed them down a little. We did a good job on their shooters in the second half."

The Bulldogs hit 12 3-pointers in the game, but only made three in the second half. MSU, on the other hand, kept chipping away at the lead.

MSU outscored UMD 21-16 in the second quarter to close the gap to seven at halftime. The Beavers tied the game on a layup by Haley Hildenbrand off a feed from Mariah Payne with 1:54 to play in the third quarter and took a two-point lead on a basket by Payne on the next possession.

The Beavers never trailed again. UMD cut it to one twice in the fourth quarter, the final time on a free throw by Taylor Schneider with 1:46 to play in the game, but MSU's Diondra Denton made it 73-70 off a pass from Kari Clements with 1:11 to play and Kori Eurich upped the lead to five with 23 seconds to play on another great feed from Payne.

Payne, playing her first minutes since before the New Year due to a hand injury, gave MSU a spark with 13 points and three assists in 21 minutes off the bench. She was one of six Beavers in double figures.

"Mariah was really efficient for us. She sees the floor really well, gets into gaps and distributes the ball really well," said Green Gerding. "We kept grinding, bucket-by-bucket. We got some conversions and some stops and kept coming."

UMD got a game-high 28 points and six rebounds from Taylor Meyer. She hit five 3-pointers in the game and added three assists. Sammy Kozlowski hit three more triples and scored 19 points, pulled down five rebounds and added four assists for UMD.

Along with Payne, MSU had Clements (12), Eurich (11), Denton (10), Kristal Flowers (10) and Madison Wald (10) in double figures. Hildenbrand finished with six rebounds and five points, while Reina Strand added seven points and three boards in the win.

"You hope every season goes where the freshmen get some minutes and can grow up and not get put in a position where they have to perform every night," Green Gerding said. "That didn't happen for us this year, they had to play big minutes, pressure minutes. But that's helped us now. Reina had some great minutes and Haley was confident tonight. It was a struggle at times, but we are seeing some benefits of that now."

MSU will look to make it two in a row with St. Cloud State coming to the Dome Saturday in the regular season home finale Saturday starting at 4 p.m.

About Minot State
Minot State University is a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and NCAA Division II offering 14 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletics programs. The NSIC is a premier NCAA DII, 16-member conference featuring teams in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa. The Beavers are the only public NCAA Division II institution in the state of North Dakota.