SAN BERNARDINO, Calif - No season is without it's struggles and the University of Mary Women's Basketball team stumbled out of the gate in the opening day of the 2014 Disney Tip Off Classic hosted by California State University-San Bernardino. The Marauders put up a tough fight but couldn't get a rhythm going in a 72-58 loss to the Coyotes.
 
Cal State-San Bernardino opened up the contest with an early 9-3 lead, and systematically extended their advantage to 20-7 through the first eight minutes of the match.

U-Mary fought back, though, and scored the next eight points in the game in three minutes to close the gap to 20-15. The Marauder's defense couldn't find an answer on the defensive half of the floor and the Coyotes fired off a 15-2 run that lasted until the three-minute mark of the first half. The Marauders got some momentum going though, as they closed out the first half on a 7-4 run but were still down 39-24 at the break.
 
The Coyotes kept up the pace early in the second half and built up a 51-31 advantage over the Marauders. U-Mary tried to narrow the margin when they could but the Coyotes demonstrated their prowess and never let the Marauders within 14 en route to the final score of 72-58.
 
Brittney Dietz led all Marauder scorers on the floor tonight, she finished with 12 points with seven of them coming form the free throw line. She also finished with four rebounds and four assists in 37 minutes of action.
 
Hannah Larson had a strong inside presence as she finished with eight points, seven rebounds and two blocks in 27 minutes on the floor.
 
A trio of Marauders provided a spark off the bench, Dani Williams saw 24 minutes on the court and racked up 11 points, shot 6-6 from the charity stripe, grabbed three rebounds, dished out two assists, and swiped one steal on the night.
 
Sloan Turner got the call from the bench as well but only needed 18 minutes of game time to pull in eight rebounds, notch eight points and was credited with one steal.
 
Gabby Wilkinson was the last to see extended action off the bench and in her 21 minutes she earned eight points, two rebounds and led the team with three steals, providing a quick transition for the Marauder offense.
 
U-Mary (0-1) closes out the invitational with a match against University of California-San Diego on Saturday, Nov. 15.
 
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