Box Score Mankato, Minn—Squaring off against #24 Minnesota State University (14-5, 11-4 NSIC), who is leading the nation in fewest turnovers per game, the University of Mary women's basketball team (11-7, 9-6 NSIC) picked a bad night to commit their most turnovers of the season. Twenty-eight U-Mary turnovers led to 26 Minnesota State points as the Marauders fell 84-68 in Northern Sun action Friday night.
Shooting 42 percent from the field, U-Mary (23-of-55) actually outshot Minnesota State (28-of-78) by six percent.
After struggling from the field last weekend,
Linda Murray appears to have found her groove as she went 7-of-11 from the field and 4-of-4 from the field for 18 points. Behind 12 first half points,
Brittney Dietz also finished with 18 points to go with five rebounds and four steals.
One of three players in double figures, Karlee Gengenbacher paced the Mavericks attack with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field in just 16 minutes of play. Eleven different players scored for MSU, all of which played at least 12 minutes.
The Marauders largest lead of the night came at 4-0 as Murray and Dietz put them on the board early. The Mavericks countered with a 16-4 run to take an eight point, a lead in which they would never surrender. U-Mary came within five at 30-25 midway though the first half, but MSU went on a 12-4 run to take a 13-point lead. The Mavericks built their lead to as many as 16 before entering the break up 50-35.
MSU controlled the first half scoring 18 points off of 14 U-Mary turnovers and holding a 12-3 advantage in second chance points by way of 11 offensive rebounds. The Marauders dominated inside holding a 22-8 edge in scoring, but the Mavericks countered with 21 bench points.
U-Mary started the second half strong scoring the first six points to cut the MSU lead to nine. The Marauders hung around and found themselves within in nine again at 55-46 and 57-48. A 5-0 run gave MSU a 14 point lead with 13:20 left to play. Four points from Murray sparked a 6-0 run that pulled the Marauders within eight with 11:01 remaining. By way of a plus seven turnover margin in the final 11 minutes of the game, the Mavericks pulled away for an 84-68 win.
U-Mary held MSU to just 10-of-38 shooting from the field and 1-of-12 from deep in the second half. However, the Marauders countered to shoot just 9-of-25 and 2-of-7 to go with 14 turnovers.
Sloan Turner was the only other U-Mary player in double-digits with 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting. Murray and
Taylor Henningsgard tied for a team-high seven rebounds.
U-Mary was outrebounded 47-43 overall and 19-8 offensively. The Mavericks held a 24-7 advantage in second chance points and the Marauders a 34-18 edge in scoring inside. MSU's bench outscored U-Mary 35-21.
U-Mary will be back in action tomorrow evening as it takes on defending NSIC Champions Concordia University, St. Paul.
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