This Week: The University of Mary Women's Basketball team will open up the 2015 calendar year with games against University of Minnesota-Crookston on Friday, Jan. 2, and Bemidji State University on Saturday, Jan. 3.

The Records: The Marauders made it back to .500 (6-6, 4-2 NSIC) after defeating Minot State University for the second time this year 68-66 in Minot, N.D. The Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles lost to Bemidji State back on December 19th in a close 71-69 battle and fell to 3-7, 2-4 NSIC. With the win, the Bemidji State Beavers improved their record to 3-7, 1-5 NSIC.

Coverage: Live Stats and any webcasts can be found at GoUMary.com/coverage.

Last Year: The Marauders paid a visit to their rivals upstate in Minot, N.D. as the Minot State Beavers hoped to avenge their early season loss to U-Mary. The first half of the contest was a tale of two runs as the Marauders fired off a 22-2 run to jump out to a 27-14 lead on the Beavers. Minot State responded in kind with a 19-5 run of their own to regain the lead 33-32 with 3:02 left in the half. The Marauders were held to one basket in the final 5:26 of the first half and the Beavers held a 37-34 lead going into halftime. The second half saw a back-and-forth battle between the teams as there were a handful of ties and lead changes. The Marauders eventually took the lead at 67-66 with 1:12 left in the game and the subsequent free throw from U-Mary would seal the victory for the Marauders 68-66. The game between the Beavers and the Golden Eagles was a close contest as well. Bemidji State held a 21-6 lead early in the game, but Minnesota Crookston crawled back and narrowed the deficit to 32-28 at the break. The Golden Eagles finally took the lead with 16:05 remaining in the game at 40-39 and built it up to 48-42 with 14:38 on the clock. Bemidji State fought back and regained the lead with 11:18 left and held a comfortable 59-52 cushion just before the final media break. The Golden Eagles would not go queitly and the teams fought back-and-forth for the remaining five minutes of the game with three ties and six lead changes. The Beavers got the last laugh, though, and eventually won the game 71-69.

History: U-Mary holds a 15-1 record on the Golden Eagles, with the Marauders currently on a six-game winning streak after they defeated Minnesota Crookston in both games the previous year 76-68 and 72-65. The Marauders also own a 13-2 record over Bemidji State after the Marauders defeated the Beavers 89-83 in double overtime and 71-67 in the previous season. U-Mary has won seven of the last eight games against Bemidji State.

Next week: The Marauders return to Bismarck next week when they host Minnesota State University Moorhead on Friday, Jan. 9, and Northern State University on Saturday, Jan. 10.

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