ABERDEEN, S.D. — The Minnesota State University Moorhead women's basketball team built a 16-point first-half lead and rolled to a 77-58 win over Northern State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action Saturday in Aberdeen, S.D. MSUM led by as many as 23 in the second half on way to the convincing win.

MSUM improved to 10-3 overall and 5-1 in the NSIC with the win while the Wolves fell to 7-5 overall and 3-3 in the league.

Junior guard Sarah Jacobson paced MSUM with 18 points. She added five rebounds and three assists. Three Dragons had 11 points — senior forward Megan Hintz, junior guard Brooklyn Liegel and sophomore forward Peyton Boom. Senior Madi Green led with seven rebounds while sophomore guard Natalie Steichen had a career-high seven assists.

MSUM shot 50 percent (30-of-60) for the game while holding the Wolves to 37 percent (20-of-54) shooting from the field.

The Dragons led 21-10 after the first quarter, and pushed the lead to 16 at the 6:11 mark of the second quarter after a basketball by sophomore guard Nicole Herbranson.  MSUM led 34-20 at halftime.

Jacobson had 10 first-half points on 4-of-5 shooting while  Boom had seven. MSUM held Northern State to 24 percent shooting (7-of-29) in the first half while shooting 45.2 percent (14-of-31) itself.

MSUM added to the lead in the third and Steichen buried a three with 11 seconds to give MSUM its largest lead at 58-35 and the Dragons never looked back. The Wolves hit a pair of threes in the final minute to cut into the final score.

Steichen and Green added eight points each for MSUM. Steichen and Boom had six rebounds each.

MSUM is off until Jan. 3 when it hosts Winona State.

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: The Dragons played the Wolves on the 21st of November and December. This is the first time they played on the same day of a month since beating Bemidji St. at home on Dec. 9, 2017, then winning in Bemidji exactly two months later.