WAYNE, Neb. - In a season highlighted by career marks, two more were set for the University of Mary Women's Basketball team in their contest against Wayne State College in the early afternoon.
 
Hannah Larson became the NCAA-era blocks leader for the Marauders (11-13, 5-11 NSIC) while Brittney Dietz moved into fifth place on the all-time scoring list in the 70-54 loss to the Wildcats (13-8, 10-6 NSIC).
 
U-Mary got off to a slow start in the first half as Wayne State opened up the game with a 12-3 run in the first quarter to put the Marauders behind early on. A three-pointer and a driving layup from Dietz cut the lead down to four points at 12-8, but the Wildcats responded with a trey of their own to go with a free throw to keep the cushion at 16-8 before Dani Williams added the final layup of the frame to put the score at 16-10.
 
Wayne State kept the pressure up throughout the second quarter as they opened up the period on a 13-2 run to put the Marauders in a deep hole at 29-12 by the 6:07 mark. U-Mary's offense struggled to gain any footing throughout the rest of the half, unfortunately, as the Wildcats matched them shot-for-shot to the break with a 38-22 cushion after Dietz added the final basket of the half from beyond the arc.
 
U-Mary's offense finally got into gear at the start of the third and they chipped away at Wayne State's lead with an 11-2 run at the beginning of the quarter to narrow the deficit down to 40-33 with 6:14 left in the frame. The Wildcats managed to keep their double-digit lead, though, as they got a handful of attempts from the charity stripe to put the score at 47-37.
 
Larson's magic number for the modern day blocks record was four and her fourth block of the game came at the 2:41 mark of the third quarter when she swatted away Taylor Reiner's layup attempt to keep the Marauders within seven points of the lead.
 
Despite the strong defensive showing, U-Mary couldn't close within eight points of the lead as Wayne State methodically built their lead to 15 points at the 5:15 mark with a 58-43 lead. The Marauders had to resort to committing fouls and forcing the Wildcats to close out the game, but the home team was more than able to accomplish the task as Wayne State made eight shots from the strip en route to a 70-54 final score.
 
In addition to her four blocks on the game, Hannah Larson finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds on the game for her eighth double-double of the year in 38 minutes played.
 
Brittney Dietz finished with 25 points to put her career total at 1,683, passing Lisa Maus who finished with 1,678; Dietz is now 24 points behind Patti Mercer, who played for U-Mary from 1983-87. Additionally, Dietz finished with five rebounds, four steals and one assist in 36 minutes played.
 
Dani Williams finished with 12 points on 5-for-11 shooting from the floor, to go with three rebounds and two steals in 29 minutes played.
 
The Marauders will return to Bismarck next week to take on Minnesota State University on Friday, February 5, starting at 6:00 PM, before hosting Concordia University-St. Paul on Saturday, February 6, starting at 4:00 PM.
 
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