ST. CLOUD, Minn. - On a night where it seemed as if nothing would fall in the basket, the University of Mary Women's basketball team dropped a tough road decision to St. Cloud State University to start the weekend.
 
The Marauders (10-11, 4-9 NSIC) shot 30.8% from the floor on the evening as they fell behind by double digits midway through the second quarter en route to a 70-51 loss to the Huskies (10-7, 9-4 NSIC).
 
The teams traded shots back-and-forth to start the game as U-Mary held an early 6-2 lead by the 8:05 mark off a trio of driving layups from Rachel Weir, Brittney Dietz, and Hannah Larson. St. Cloud State battled right back with a pair of three-pointers to regain the lead at 8-6 with 6:36 remaining in the frame, but Dani Williams sunk a trey of her own to retake the lead for the Marauders at 9-8 merely 24 seconds later.
 
Yet the Huskies proved resilient on their home court as they closed out the frame with an 8-3 run to put the Marauders in an 16-12 hole heading into the second quarter.
 
Another driving layup from Weir got U-Mary on the board to start off the second, but it would be the last time they would close within a possession as the Huskies fired off a 13-0 run to go up 29-14 by the 4:45 mark of the period. The Marauders responded with an 8-0 run thanks to three points from Larson, two apiece from Dietz and Isabel Schmelzer, and one from Williams to close the gap at 29-22 in the closing seconds, but the Huskies closed out the half with another perimeter shot to put the Marauders back down by 10 at 32-22.
 
U-Mary's offense went ice cold at the start of the third quarter as they only managed four shot attempts by the midway point with nothing finding the bottom of the bucket, meanwhile the Huskies strung together an 11-3 run as the Marauders managed three free throws in the run, putting U-Mary in a 43-25 hole by the 5:07 mark of the frame.
 
Williams finally stopped the drought with a mid-range jumper at 4:52, but it did little to stem the tide as St. Cloud State opened up a 24-point lead at 51-27 with less than four minutes to play. U-Mary's offense showed some signs of life late in the period with 12 points in the final 3:34, but it made little difference in the running total as the Huskies held a 57-39 lead going into the final quarter.
 
Any hope for some late game heroics was eventually squashed as the Huskies matched U-Mary shot-for-shot and the Marauders couldn't close within 19 points of the lead as St. Cloud State eventually laid claim to the 70-51 final score, putting the Marauders back under .500 on the season.
 
Brittney Dietz moved into sixth place on U-Mary's all-time scoring list as she finished with 17 on the evening to go with five rebounds and two assists in 34 minutes played. She currently has 1,624 on her career and just surpassed Sarah Leer who has 1,618. Next on the list is Lisa Maus who has 1,678 total points scored.
 
Dani Williams finished with nine points of her own to go with three rebounds and two assists in 29 minutes played.
 
Hannah Larson provided the most work on the boards as she grabbed 11 rebounds on the night to go with eight points and three blocks in 27 minutes played.
 
U-Mary got five points apiece off the bench from Isabel Schmelzer and Haley Hibbs.
 
The Marauders will pay a visit to Duluth, Minn., tomorrow afternoon to take on the University of Minnesota Duluth starting at 4:00 PM.
 
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