Box Score
MOORHEAD, Minn. – A frigid shooting night from the field spelled doom for the Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team on Saturday as the Dragons fell to Northern State, 70-45 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action in Aberdeen, S.D.

MSUM, which saw a two-game winning streak end, fell to 6-4 overall and 2-4 in the NSIC with the loss, while Northern State improved to 8-2 overall and 4-2 in the league. The Wolves completed a season sweep of the series with the win.

The Dragons shot just 20.8 percent (11-of-53) from the field, which was a season-low, and the 45 points scored by MSUM were also a season-low. MSUM shot just 19 percent (4-of-21) from three-point range. Northern State shot 40.3 percent (25-of-62). The Wolves also had a 48-39  edge in rebounds.

Senior forward Megan Strese paced MSUM with11 points, while sophomore guard Meghan Roehrich added nine points off the bench.  Megan Strese, Roehrich and sophomore forward Heather Strese shared the team lead with six rebounds, while senior guard Haley Thomforde had three assists.

The Dragons never led in the game, although they were tied at 9-9 with 14:10 left in the first half. MSUM went without a point for nearly seven minutes as the Wolves went on a 14-0 run to build a 23-9 lead.

Despite shooting only 18.5 percent from the field in the first half, MSUM managed to climb late in the first half. After trailing 23-9, MSUM went on a 13-4 run to cut the gap to 27-22 with 41 seconds left in the half. Thomforde and senior forward Morgan Zabel each drained threes to spark the rally.

Despite nine points from Megan Strese, MSUM hit just 5-of-27 field goals in the first half. The Wolves shot 38.7 percent in the first half.

The Wolves opened the second half on a 12-3 run over the first 4:44 to push the lead to 41-25, and MSUM never got closer than 13 the rest of the night.

Zabel added seven points and five rebounds for MSUM, which did hit 19-of-25 free throws in the game. Sophomore forward Leah Miller had two assists and four rebounds in 13 minutes off of the bench.

The Dragons are off until Jan. 3, 2014 when they play at the University of Sioux Falls.

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: The Dragons started Morgan Banasik, Haley Thomforde, Morgan Zabel, Megan Strese and Savanna Handevidt for the 1 th consecutive game. The only two seasons under Karla Nelson where the Dragons used the same starting five for the entire season was Nelson's first season ('00-'01) where she used Molly Ramm, Lindsey Schneiderman, Kristin Engeldorf, Katie Doerr and Patty Asher in all 27 games, and the NSIC Championship season of '04-'05 when Dana Weibel, Jackie Doerr, Lindsay Hartmann, Jenny Thon and Jessica Fesenmaier started all 31 of those games, en route to a 24-7 campaign.