Box Score
MOORHEAD, Minn. – Senior Morgan Zabel scored a career-high 28 points to help the Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team earn a 75-70 win over Minnesota Duluth in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Friday night in Duluth, Minn. MSUM, which battled back from a 12-point first-half deficit, outscored the Bulldogs 9-2 over the final 1:59 to secure the win.

The Dragons (10-7, 6-7 NSIC) ended a three-game losing streak with the win while UMD fell to 9-8 overall and 6-7 in the league.

Zabel finished 12-of-20 from the field while adding six rebounds, two assists and a steal.  Her 28 points are the most scored by a Dragon player during the 2013-14 season.

Senior forward Megan Strese had 16 points – all in the second half – to go with eight rebounds. Senior guard Haley Thomforde had 13 points. Sophomore guard Meghan Roehrich had seven points and a team-high three assists off the bench.

MSUM trailed 68-66 after a pair of Bulldog free throws with 1:59. On the next possession, Roehrich buried a three to put the Dragons up 69-68. MSUM got a key defensive stop, and Zabel scored with 1:05 left to push the Dragon advantage to 71-68.

The Bulldogs scored with 54 seconds left to cut the Dragon lead to 71-70 but Megan Strese hit a pair of free throws to push the Dragon lead to 73-70. Duluth missed a three-pointer as MSUM got another stop, and a pair of Thomforde free throws iced the win for the Dragons.

The Dragons fell into a 10-0 hole just 3:04 into the game and spent the rest of the first half playing catch-up. MSUM, which trailed 21-9 with 11:26 left in the first half, outscored the Bulldogs 20-11 over the final 10 minutes of the half to cut the UMD lead to 33-29 at halftime. Zabel was the catalyst with nine points during that run while sophomore forward Heather Strese had five points, including a three.

Zabel had 13 first-half points for MSUM while Thomforde had seven and Heather Strese five. MSUM shot 40 percent (12-of-30) in first half while UMD shot 41.9 percent (13-of-31).

In the second half, MSUM was down by as many as nine at 52-43 (13:54 mark) before going on a 16-6 run over a span of eight minutes to take a 59-58. Roehrich buried a three to cap off the run, which gave MSUM its first lead of the night. From there, the game stayed close until the Dragons closed the game strong.

The Dragons wrap up a stretch of four straight road games on Saturday at St. Cloud State. Game time is 4 p.m. in St. Cloud, Minn.

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: Since the University of Minnesota-Duluth rejoined the NSIC in 2008, the Dragons are now 5-1 against the Bulldogs in Duluth. Their only loss was a 54-50 decision last year on Feb. 16.