MOORHEAD, Minn. -- Senior Megan Strese surpassed the 1,000-point milestone for her career, but the MInnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team fell short against No. 17-ranked Minnesota State, Mankato on Saturday, dropping a 85-57 decision to the Mavericks at Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead, Minn.

MSUM, which saw a three-game winning streak end with the loss, fell to 9-5 overall and 5-5 in the NSIC, while Minnesota State improved to 10-4 overall and 7-3 in the league.

Strese, who entered the game needing only one point to reach 1,000, surpassed the milestone just 1:23 into the game with a field goal. She is the 20th Dragon women's player to reach the 1,000-point plateau. 

Sophomore Savanna Handevidt had a good night for MSUM, scoring a career-high 17 points. She was 8-of-9 from the free-throw line and also added five rebounds. Strese finished with nine rebounds along with six points, while redshirt freshman Morgan Banasik and freshman Natalie Van Wyhe had three assists each. 

MSUM shot just 29.4 percent (15-of-51) while the Mavericks shot 46.3 percent (31-of-67). Turnovers doomed the Dragons, committing 25, which led to 28 Mankato points. The Dragons did outrebound the Mavericks 41-37.

The Dragons got off to a promising start, as a three-point play by Thomforde gave the Dragons a 7-2 lead. The Mavericks came back with a 7-2 run to take a 10-7 lead, but sophomore Heather Strese drained a three-pointer to make it 10-10 with 13:39 left in the half.

Mankato responded with a 9-1 run to take a 19-11 with 11:02 left in the half, and pushed the lead to as many as 19 at 36-17 lead before MSUM scored six points in a row to cut the lead to 36-23 at halftime.

The Dragons struggled offensively in the first half, shooting just 20.8 percent (5-of-24) from the field. MSUM committed 14 first-half turnovers, which led Mankato to having a 16-0 edge in points scored off of turnovers.

Handevidt had a solid first half with seven points, while Megan Strese had six points and nine rebounds in the first half.

MSUM looked to cut into the lead to open the second half, but the Mavericks opened the second half on a 13-3 run to push the lead to 49-26 with 16:38 left in the game, and MSUM got no closer than 21 the rest of the way.

Sophomore guard Meghan Roehrich had eight points off the bench for MSUM while Heather Strese added seven. Senior Morgan Zabel had seven rebounds.

MSUM is at Bemidji State on Friday for another NSIC game. It is the start of four straight road games for MSUM.

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: Megan Strese became the third Dragon in a row to score her 1,000th career point during a home game. Angie Jetvig scored her 1,000th in the Dragons' 66-40 home win vs. Upper Iowa on Feb. 19, 2011 and Megan Rettke did so in an 86-78 win vs. Minnesota-Crookston on Feb. 27, 2010. Alison Nash-Gerlach was the last Dragon to hit the magical mark on the road, helping the Dragons to a 73-67 win at Northern St. on Jan. 29, 2010.