ST. CLOUD, Minn. - Wrapping up the regular season with a visit to St. Cloud, the University of Mary Women's Basketball team took on St. Cloud State University in the final matchup before the conference tournament starting next week.
 
The Marauders (10-18, 8-14 NSIC) took the Huskies (15-11, 11-11 NSIC) to an extra period, but in the end it was the defensive effort of U-Mary that sealed the 82-70 OT victory.
 
The game started off as two opponents delivering punches since neither of them could hold a lead greater than one possession, but by the first media break the Marauders held a 15-13 advantage over the Huskies thanks to a fast break layup from Hannah Larson coming from a Haley Hibbs rebound.
 
St. Cloud wouldn't go away quietly on the own court, however, and kept the game close as they forced U-Mary to a tie on three separate occasions before the second media break and held a 25-20 lead with 9:28 remaining in the half.
 
The Marauders are no strangers to playing behind and they responded quickly with a three-pointer from Dani Williams after a jumper from Sloan Turner to tie the score at 25 apiece with 8:38 left on the clock.
 
Both teams went back-and-forth again from that point and the Huskies held a four-point advantage at 35-31 with less than two minutes to go in the half, but the Marauders closed out the first frame on a 7-0 run thanks to a Rachel Weir layup, a block from Turner leading to a Brittney Dietz three-pointer, and another layup from Dietz to jump ahead at 38-35 going into halftime.
 
Coming out of intermission, the Marauders employed their trademark versatile offense with a potent defense to hold onto the lead at 53-51 with 12:32 left in the half. The Huskies eventually tied the game and took the lead off a layup-and-one, but the Marauders were quick to the basket, retook the lead, and extended their advantage to 65-58 with 6:53 to go.
 
It was time for the Huskies to claw their way back into the game, however, and fired off a 12-3 run to surge ahead of U-Mary at 70-68 with less than three minutes remaining in regulation. It appeared the ball became afraid of the basket as neither team recorded a field goal in the next minute, but Dietz wouldn't let that stop her as she drew a foul and sank two free throws with 1:53 remaining, knotting the score at 70-70.
 
Yet once again, neither the Marauders nor the Huskies could sink a bucket and in response to the sudden scoring drought, the doctor prescribed an extra frame, which is exactly what U-Mary needed.
 
Turner started the surfeit of scoring in overtime as she got a layup, drew the foul, and sank the free throw for an old-school three-point play to put the Marauders on top 73-70.
 
Larson also got in on the offensive action as she, too, completed a classic three-point play with a layup-and-one, but added one more ingredient with another layup to give U-Mary a commanding 78-70 lead with 2:23 left in the game.
 
Weir didn't want to miss out and added a layup of her own to push the score to 80-70, and was shortly followed by two Dani Clarke free throws to cap off the Marauders offensive outburst at 82-70.
 
Meanwhile, U-Mary was forcing contested shots from all parts of the defensive end of the court as the Huskies failed to find the basket in the additional period.
 
Larson put the exclamation point on the game as she blocked a Husky three-point attempt in the final minute and snagged the loose ball.
 
The final score was 82-70.
 
Dietz made up for the lack of scoring in yesterday's contest with a game-high 29 points on 11-for-20 shooting from the floor, 4-for-5 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 3-for-3 from the line. She also added seven rebounds and five assists in 43 minutes of action.
 
Larson bounced back with a solid performance of 15 points, nine rebounds, four blocks, three steals, and three assists in 39 minutes. She was one rebound shy of netting her seventh double double of the season.
 
Turner didn't miss out on a double double, however, as she finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds on 5-for-8 shooting from the field. She also added a block and a steal in her 29 minutes played.
 
Clarke got another start tonight and she responded with nine points, four rebounds, one block and one assist in 33 minutes on the court.
 
Dani Williams came off the bench for U-Mary and earned eight points, five rebounds, four assists and one steal in 31 minutes on the court.
 
With the regular season concluded, the NSIC Tournament starts up this coming week and with the way the standings are right now, the Marauders will most likely travel to Winona State University for the first round of the bracket. Stay tuned to GoUMary.com for more information or check out the conference website at northernsun.org to see updated standings and schedules.
 
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