MOORHEAD, Minn. -- The Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team used a strong defensive effort and a big advantage at the free-throw line to secure a 63-51 win over Concordia-St. Paul in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Friday night in Moorhead, Minn.

MSUM, which has now won four in a row, is now 11-8 overall and 10-5 in the NSIC while Concordia fell to 11-9 overall and 7-7 in the league.

The Dragons held Concordia to just 30.4 percent shooting (17-of-56) from the field, including 19 percent (4-of-21) from three-point range. MSUM also hit 26-of-27 free throws (96.3 percent) compared to 13-of-15 (86.7 percent) for the Golden Bears.

Three Dragons scored in double figures, led by junior guard Meghan Roehrich and junior forward Heather Strese with 15 points each. Sophomore guard Morgan Banasik added 14 points. Strese had eight rebounds while freshman forward Cassidy Thorson had seven rebounds, tying a career-high. Sophomore guard Natalie Van Wyhe had four assists while Banasik had three.

MSUM trailed 8-4 five minutes into the contest but grabbed the momentum with a 16-3 run over the next six minutes which surged the Dragons into a 20-11 lead. Strese and Roehrich each had five points during that stretch while Banasik had four.

Van Wyhe drained a pair of free throws with 3:01 left to put the Dragons up 29-17, which proved to be the final points of the first half as the Dragons took that 12-point lead into halftime.

Roehrich had 11 first-half points for MSUM, which shot 35 percent (7-of-20) in the first half. Concordia shot just 26.9 percent (7-of-26) in the first 20 minutes.

The Dragons pushed their lead to 38-23, their largest of the night, after a layup by redshirt freshman forward Drew Sannes with 15:52 left.  The Golden Bears were within 48-40 with 8:40 left but the Dragons responded with four straight points from Strese and the lead never dropped below double digits after that point.

Van Wyhe added nine points for MSUM while Sannes had eight rebounds.

MSUM hosts Minnesota State at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: Tonight's win over Concordia St. Paul makes it three wins for the Dragons over the Golden Bears in their last four outings (won 81-68 on Jan. 10, 2014 in Moorhead, lost 76-70 on Jan. 11, 2013 in St. Paul, and won 77-65 in St. Paul on Jan. 20, 2012). This marks the first time that the Dragons have won three out of four (and at least two in a row) over Concordia St. Paul since winning four in a row:
--69-67 in Moorhead on Feb. 10, 2001
--69-60 in St. Paul on Jan. 5, 2001
--89-68 in St. Paul on Feb. 12, 2000
--69-60 in Moorhead on Jan. 7, 2000