Box Score
MOORHEAD, Minn.. -- A cold-shooting first half proved to be the demise for the Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team on Saturday as the Dragons fell to St. Cloud State, 79-56, in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action at Alex Nemzek Hall in Moorhead, Minn.

The Dragons fell to 5-4 overall and 2-3 in the NSIC, while St. Cloud State improved to 8-1 overall and 4-1 in the league.

MSUM, which shot only 23.8 percent in a loss to Minnesota-Duluth on Friday, hit just 6-of-23 field goal attempts (26.1 percent) in the first half, compared to 51.5 percent (17-of-33) for St. Cloud State. MSUM shot much better in the second half (48.5 percent) and cut a 25-point deficit to 11, but came up short.

Senior Marisa Yernatich had a solid all-around game for MSUM with 15 points, six rebounds and five assists. Junior Haley Thomforde had 10 points and four assists, while junior Megan Strese had a career-high 17 rebounds.

MSUM led 3-2 early after a Yernatich three-pointer and held a 5-4 lead with 17:33 left, but St. Cloud State went on a 13-0 run to take a 17-5 lead with 13:56 left in the half. From there, slowed by cold shooting, the Dragons faced a double-digit deficit. They were as close as 27-15 after Thomforde hit a three-pointer but the Huskies pulled away from there to take a 43-22 lead into halftime.

The Dragon offense warmed up early in the second half as they opened on an 11-4 run to cut the lead to 46-33 with 16:35 left.  Senior Kaycee Charette, junior Morgan Zabel and Yernatich all hit threes to ignite the Dragon offense.

MSUM closed the gap to 49-39 after a Thomforde jumper with 12:25 left, and the Dragons were within 51-41 with 11:43 left but the Huskies methodically pulled away, as they pushed the lead back to 21 points with 5:16 left.

Zabel had nine points for MSUM, while Charette had eight points and three assists.

MSUM is off until Jan. 4, 2013 when it plays host to Minnesota-Crookston.

Notes: Strese has 46 rebounds in her last three games -- and average of 15.3 per contest. She is averaging 10.9 rebounds per game for the season…Yernatich now has 155 three-pointers as she continues to add to the career record…Thomforde now has four games of four assists or more this season.

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: The Dragons suffered a 65-50 loss last night at the hands of Minnesota Duluth, then got the opportunity to play tonight versus St. Cloud State making tonight, the third time since 2000 the Dragons have scored 50 points or less in a game, then played the next night. Tonight though, was the first time they lost. The Dragons fell at Winona State 79-47 last year on Feb. 17, then came right back the next night to win at Upper Iowa 97-57. The other time was when MSU Moorhead lost 70-48 at Northern State on Jan. 4, 2002, then came right back the next night to win 96-51 at Minnesota-Morris.