BISMARCK, N.D. - Faced with an opportunity to gain ground on some of the schools in the middle of the pack, the University of Mary Women's basketball team concluded the home portion of their regular season with a Northern Sun contest against the University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles.
 
It turned into a tough matchup for U-Mary (9-17, 7-13 NSIC) as the Golden Eagles (11-9, 12-12 NSIC) proved to be stubborn on defense as the Marauders fell 72-54.
 
The first half turned into a back-and-forth affair as neither team could gain any significant ground on the other, but the Golden Eagles held an early 10-5 lead at the first media break.
 
The Marauders struggled to get the offense going in the early portion of the game as Minnesota Crookston built their lead to 19-9 by the second media break. U-Mary finally found their rhythm after that point as they closed in on the Golden Eagle lead by the final media break, but were still on the bottom of a 22-18 score.
 
U-Mary narrowed Minnesota Crookston's lead to 24-23 with 1:57 left in the half, but the offense stalled a bit and the Golden Eagles held a 29-25 lead going into halftime.
 
The second half turned into the Marauders playing catch-up as they never got within five of the Golden Eagles, but hung around long enough to keep the score within reach. Minnesota Crookston built their lead back to 37-30 by the first media break and U-Mary matched them basket-for-basket as the Golden Eagles maintained their seven-point advantage by the second media break at 51-44.
 
The offense seemed to slow down quite a bit after that point for the Marauders as Minnesota Crookston fired off a 15-4 run to extend their lead to 66-48 by the final media break, and U-Mary never recovered after that. The final score was 72-54.
 
Brittney Dietz led all scorers with 21 points on 7-for-15 shooting. She was a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe and finished the game with two rebounds and two assists in 33 minutes played.
 
Hannah Larson was a force on the boards as she grabbed 10 rebounds while adding six points, four blocks, and three assists, but fouled out after playing 33 minutes.
 
Sloan Turner struggled to maintain her usual production as of late, since the Golden Eagles felt inclined to double team her every time she got the ball in the post, but still managed to get eight points, five rebounds, and a block in 25 minutes on the court.
 
Haley Hibbs got the start at the point tonight and finished with seven points, three steals, one block, and three rebounds in her 32 minutes on the court.
 
Dani Clarke started at guard for U-Mary as well and finished with five points, two assists, one steal and one rebound in 25 minutes of action.
 
Dani Williams got the call from the bench and she answered with five points, four rebounds, three assists and one steal in 30 minutes played.
 
The Marauders will close out their regular season schedule next week when they travel to Duluth, Minn., on Friday, February 20, to take on the University of Minnesota Duluth.
 
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