MOORHEAD, Minn. -- Junior forward Heather Strese scored a career-high 24 points to lead the Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team to an 87-75 win over Mary in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Saturday at Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead, Minn.

MSUM improved to 3-4 overall and 2-1 in the NSIC with the win while Mary fell to 3-6 overall and 1-2 in the league.

Strese finished with 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field. She was 6-of-8 from the foul line. She added eight rebounds and two steals.  Junior guard Meghan Roehrich added 16 points while sophomore guard Morgan Banasik added 14 points.  Junior Savanna Handevidt recorded her first career double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore guard Natalie Van Wyhe had nine assists and four steals, both career-highs.

MSUM had a 53-28 edge in rebounds, including 23-7 on the offensive glass. MSUM had a 25-8 edge in second-chance points.

The Dragons shot 38.8 percent (26-of-67) form the field, compared to 46.8 percent (29-of-62) for the Marauders. MSUM had a huge advantage at the free-throw line for the second straight game, hitting 30-of-36 attempts (83.3 percent) compared to 6-of-10 (60 percent) for the Marauders.

MSUM trailed 15-7 six minutes into the game but clawed its way back with a 15-4 run over the next seven minutes to take a 22-19 lead. Handevidt led that key stretch with six points for MSUM while Roehrich had four. The Dragons never trailed again after that run.

MSUM's biggest lead of the half was eight, an advantage the Dragons took into halftime at 35-27. Strese had 13 points in the first half while Handevidt had 10 rebounds.

The Marauders, who had won the last three meetings in the series, climbed within 48-45 with 13:11 left but MSUM responded with seven points in a row -- sparked by five points from junior guard Cheyenne Ironheart -- to push the lead to 55-45. MSUM's lead never dropped below five the rest of the night on its way to the 12-point win.

Ironheart had seven points off the bench for MSUM. Van Wyhe added eight points.

The Dragons hit the road next week for a pair of games, starting on Friday at St. Cloud State. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. at Halenback Hall in St. Cloud, Minn.

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: The Dragons entered this weekend under the .500 mark for the season, but earned the home NSIC weekend sweep. The last time this occurred was when the 6-7 Dragons beat Bemidji St. 62-50 in Moorhead on Jan. 13, 2006, then defeated Minnesota Crookston the next night 99-88.