SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Junior guard
Meghan Roehrich scored a career-high 32 points to lead the Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team to a 78-67 win over San Francisco State in nonconference action Thursday night in San Francisco, Calif.
Savanna Handevidt
scored 15 points and
added nine rebounds
for MSUM.MSUM improved to 1-2 overall with the win while San Francisco State fell to 0-1 on the season.
Roehrich finished 10-of-17 from the field – including 5-of-11 from three-point range – and was 7-of-11 from the free-throw line. Roehrich added six rebounds and a team-high five assists. The 32 points – which are six away from the single-game school record -- are the most scored by an MSUM player since Alison Nash-Gerlach scored 32 against Minnesota Crookston on Jan. 16, 2010.
Junior forward
Savanna Handevidt added 15 points and nine rebounds for MSUM, while sophomore guard
Morgan Banasik added 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and a team-high two steals. Junior forward
Heather Strese added 12 rebounds, a game-high, to go with six points.
MSUM shot a team-best 48.3 percent (28-of-58) from the field while holding the Gators to 36.1 percent (22-of-61). The Dragons had a commanding 48-26 edge in rebounds, including 15-8 on the offensive glass. MSUM also had a 32-12 edge in points in the paint.
The Dragons faced a 5-4 deficit in the first half but scored nine of the next 11 points to surge into a 13-7 lead with 13:25 left in the half. Junior guard
Jessica Hart buried a three-pointer while Handevidt, junior guard
Cheyenne Ironheart and freshman forward
Shannon Galegher each had two.
SFSU came back to tie the game at 13-13 but a 9-0 run – sparked by a three-pointer from sophomore guard
Natalie Van Wyhe – pushed MSUM up 22-13 with nine minutes left in the half. MSUM led by as many as 16 in the first half on its way to a 42-32 halftime lead.
Roehrich led MSUM with 14 first-half points. The Dragons shot 51.6 percent (16-of-31) in the first 20 minutes.
The Dragons pulled away to start the second half, outscoring the Gators 10-3 to push the lead to 52-35 with 15:04 left. Handevidt had four points while Roehrich added three during that opening stretch. MSUM pushed the lead to as many as 22 in the second half and was never threatened the rest of the way.
Redshirt freshman forward
Drew Sannes added two blocks for MSUM.
The Dragons wrap up the West Coast trip on Friday at Cal State-East Bay. Game time is 7:30 p.m. Central time in Hayward, Calif.