Box Score
MOORHEAD, Minn. -- Junior
Morgan Zabel scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team to a big 69-60 win over No. 18-ranked Augustana in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Friday night at Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead, Minn.
The Dragons improved to 13-8 overall and 10-7 in the NSIC with the win, while Augustana fell to 16-5 overall and 12-5 in the league.
Zabel was 6-of-11 and a career- best 10-of-10 from the free-throw line in the game. Senior
Marisa Yernatich added 13 points, while junior
Megan Strese had her sixth double-double of the season with 12 points and 15 rebounds. Yernatich and junior
Haley Thomforde each had three assists.
MSUM's defense proved vital, as the Dragons -- clad in their pink and white uniforms as part of Go Pink with the Dragons Week -- rheld the Vikings 17 points under their season average. The Dragons limited Augustana to just 37.3 percent shooting, including just 19.2 percent (5-of-26) from three-point range.
The Dragons -- who never trailed -- set the tone early with an 11-0 run over the first 3:10. Yernatich had seven points during the run, including a pair of threes.
Augustana cut the gap to 13-5, but MSUM went on a 13-4 run over the next five minutes to build a comfortable 26-9 lead with 8:48 left in the half. Zabel had eight points during the run as she hit a pair of threes, while Yernatich had five. The Dragons took a 32-17 lead into halftime.
MSUM held Augustana to just 19.4 percent (6-of-31) shooting in the first half and forced 12 turnovers.
The Dragons took their largest lead at 35-17 with 19:44 left in the game when Thomforde hit a three. The Vikings chipped away at the lead over the next 12 minutes and cut the gap to 54-45 with 7:01 left when Alex Feeney hit a three-pointer.
However, six points would be as close as the Vikings would get. MSUM was 5-of-6 from the line in the final minute, thanks to Zabel going 4-for-4, to secure the nine-point win.
Thomforde finished with seven points for MSUM.
The Dragons host Wayne State at 4 p.m. on Saturday to conclude the weekend.
Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: The Dragons are now 5-4 versus Augustana College since they joined the NSIC back in 2008, and are only one of three conference teams (Wayne State, 7-6 and Concordia St. Paul, 6-4) to have winning records versus the Vikings in this timeframe.
