Box Score ST. CLOUD, Minn. – In a battle for first place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference's North Division, St. Cloud State defeated Minnesota State University Moorhead, 69-57 in action Friday night in St. Cloud, Minn.

MSUM fell to 14-9 overall and 11-8 in the NSIC, while St. Cloud State improved to 16-7 and 12-7 in the league. The Dragons are now in a three-way tie for second in the north with Mary and Northern State, both of whom won on Friday night. Northern State is at St. Cloud State on Saturday.

The Dragons were led by senior Marisa Yernatich, who had 12 points, while junior Megan Strese added 11 points and six rebounds. Freshman Leah Miller led with eight rebounds, while senior Kaycee Charette had a team-best five assists.

MSUM trailed 4-2 at the 16:35 mark of the first half but outscored the Huskies 8-2 over the next three minutes to take a 10-6 lead. Threes by Yernatich and redshirt freshman Meghan Roehrich keyed the Dragons' surge into the lead.

St. Cloud State turned the tables by outscoring the Dragons 14-4 over the next 5:29 to build a 20-14 lead with 8:06 left in the first half.  MSUM came back again to regain the lead late in the half as Roehrich converted a three-point play to put the Dragons up 26-24. The game was tied 29-29 at halftime.

MSUM shot 35.7 percent in the first half (10-of-28) while SCSU shot 30 percent (9-of-30).
The Huskies opened the second half on a 16-5 run to build a 45-34 lead with 14:51 left. MSUM battled back with a run of its own – a 10-2 spurt – to cut the lead to 47-44 with 12:15 left. Strese had five points, including a three-point play, during the run, while Yernatich buried a three.

The Dragons were within 59-53 when Charette drained a three with 6:24 left, but MSUM would go on a scoring drought that lasted nearly six minutes as SCSU pushed the lead to 69-53 with a minute left.

MSUM shot 40.7 percent for the game (22-of-54) while the Huskies shot 23-of-56 (41.1 percent). MSUM committed 19 turnovers compared to just 11 for SCSU.

Junior Morgan Zabel, who stretched her free throw streak to 26 consecutive makes in the first half before seeing it end late in the half, had nine points, four rebounds and four assists off the bench. Roehrich added eight poins off the bench.

MSUM plays its final NSIC road game of the season on Saturday at Minnesota-Duluth (4 p.m. tipoff).

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: The Dragons have gone 21 consecutive games without cracking the 80 point plateau (they beat Minnesota Morris 93-60 over back on November 16 in Moorhead). The last Dragon team to go at least 21 consecutive games in the same season and not hit 80 points in a game, was the 1984/1985 squad under Bobby Daniels. That Dragon outfit finished 14-9, but failed to score 80 points in any of their 23 games.