MARSHALL, Minn. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead Dragon women's basketball team used offensive rebounding to keep the score close against Southwest Minnesota State University Tuesday night, but were held scoreless for the final 3:47 of the game to fall 68-59 to the Mustangs in Marshall, Minn.
Southwest State came out firing against MSU Moorhead, taking a quick 9-0 lead in the first 2:03 of the game.
The Dragons would answer with a 7-0 run of their own after a jumper from
Morgan Zabel at the 12:47 mark. Zabel would put two offensive rebounds back up for a pair of baskets, the first to tie the score, and the second to help the Dragons take their first lead of the game 20-18 with 9:30 left in the half.
The Mustang's Bree Holleman would make a three-pointer to put her team up by one 21-20 with 8:14 remaining. They would hold their lead until another offensive rebound and put-back by the Dragon's Abby Rieter would again tie the score 25-25 with just over four minutes left.
The score would remain close and the half would end with each team exchanging a pair of free throws to tie the score again 31-31 at halftime.
Even though the Dragons shot 38.2 percent from the floor, they produced ten more shot opportunities by out-rebounding the Mustangs 12-0 on the offensive glass. Zabel was the only Dragon in the first half to above 50 percent from the floor, going a perfect 4-4.
The Mustangs would come out in the second half much like the first, producing a 7-0 run to take a ten-point lead 46-36 with 13:23 on the clock.
The Dragons would answer with a run of their own as
Kaycee Charette hit back-to-back three-pointers and would add another jumper to score eight straight points in a Dragon 12-2 run. The run would tie the score 48-48 with 8:15 left in the game.
After the Mustangs took a brief two-point lead,
Angie Jetvig would again tie the score 53-53 after making a pair of free throws with 5:58 remaining.
After the Mustang's Amber Peterson hit a three-pointer, Jetvig would again tie the score 56-56 with a three of her own with 4:45 to go.
The Mustangs would take over the rest of the game, outscoring the Dragons 10-3 in the final four minutes to win 68-59.
Top performer for the Dragons was Jetvig with a double-double 15 points and 13 rebounds.
Marisa Yernatich would add 11 points, Charette would tally 10 points, and Zabel would put together a solid performace off the bench with 11 points.
The loss drops the Dragons to 4-3 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play and 7-4 overall. The Mustangs snapped a six-game losing streak with the win.
The Dragons will return home on Saturday, Jan. 8 against the University of Mary (N.D.), and Sunday, Jan. 9 against the Wolves from Northern State University (S.D.). Both games are set to tip-off at 2 p.m.
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