FAYETTE, Iowa – A big night from senior forward Heather Strese helped the Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team earn a 71-55 win over Upper Iowa in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Saturday in Fayette, Iowa.

MSUM is now 8-2 overall and 5-2 in the NSIC with the win, while Upper Iowa fell to 3-10 overall and 2-5 in the league. The Dragons are 18-0 all-time against the Peacocks in women's basketball.

Strese had her seventh career double-double with season-highs of 25 points and 10 rebounds. She was 7-of-10 from the field and 9-of-12 from the free-throw line. Sophomore guard Cassidy Thorson had 14 points, while sophomore forward Drew Sannes had nine points and seven rebounds off the bench. Junior guard Natalie Van Wyhe had four assists and three steals to lead the Dragons in both categories.

MSUM shot 37.7 percent (23-of-61) from the field, compared to 34.5 percent (19-of-55) for Upper Iowa. The Dragons had a 40-35 edge in rebounds. MSUM had just eight turnovers while Upper Iowa had 16, which led to a 24-10 edge in points off of turnovers for the Dragons.

Leading by six points at halftime, MSUM took control in the third quarter by outscoring the Peacocks 18-8. Strese had six points during that quarter with a pair of threes while Thorson had five points.

A Strese layup 27 seconds into the fourth quarter gave MSUM its largest lead of the night at 60-42.  MSUM's lead never dropped below double digits the rest of the night.

The Dragons were down 7-3 early in the game but went on a 9-2run to take a 12-9 lead. Thorson buried a pair of threes to spark the Dragons in that run.

Upper Iowa regained the lead in the second quarter, taking a 29-27 lead, MSUM fought back to regain the lead later in the quarter and took a 40-34 into the halftime break.

Strese had 11 first-half points for MSUM while Sannes had seven.

The 25 points scored by Strese were the most scored by a Dragon women's player this season.

Sophomore forward Shannon Galegher had four points and two rebounds off the bench. Junior guard Morgan Banasik had seven points.

MSUM wraps up the road trip at No. 10-ranked Winona State on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Warriors lost their first game of the season on Saturday, dropping a 60-55 contest to Northern State.

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: The Dragons have committed fewer than 10 turnovers in each of their last four games including tonight (eight). Prior to this streak, the Dragons had turned the ball over fewer than 10 times in four of their past 102 outings beginning Jan. 20, 2012.