BEMIDJI, Minn. - On the brink of getting sunk in the second half by another sputtering offense, the University of Mary Women's Basketball team instead turned to the charity stripe to outlast Bemidji State University in the evening contest.
 
The Marauders (13-14, 7-12 NSIC) shot 22-for-23 from the free throw line, including 16-for-17 in the fourth quarter, in a 75-67 win for the season sweep over the Beavers (7-16, 3-16 NSIC).
 
The opening quarter started out slow for both teams as U-Mary had the longest run at 7-0 off three points from Hannah Larson, two from Brittney Dietz, and two from Rachel Weir, starting at the 5:50 mark to go up 10-5 on Bemidji State, but the Marauders could only managed one field goal in the last 4:10 of the period as the Beavers knotted the score at 12-12 heading into the second.
 
U-Mary's offense kicked into high gear in the second frame with an opening 7-2 run off a trey from Dietz and two each from Weir, Hayley Niles and Dani Williams for a 21-14 lead by the 6:28 mark. The Marauder defense was stifling in the period as they held the Beavers to three field goals before the break while the offense slowly built up an 11 point cushion going into halftime at 35-24.
 
Bemidji State opened up the scoring in third quarter as they quickly closed the gap on U-Mary with a 15-4 run that evened the score at 39 apiece at the 4:25 mark. The Marauders turned the tables in the frame, though, as they closed out the third on a 13-4 run of their own as Dietz sunk two free throws to spark the run while Niles capped off the quarter with a midrange jumper for a 52-43 lead heading into the fourth.
 
U-Mary's offense hit a rut in the final frame as Bemidji State ramped up their defensive effort to limit three field goals in the quarter, but the Marauders turned to Dietz as she made 14-of-15 shots from the line through the remainder of the game to complete the sweep. The Beavers got within five points of U-Mary with 54 seconds remaining at 66-61, but Dietz kept them at bay with seven made free throws to close out the game at 75-67.
 
Brittney Dietz finished with 26 points on the game, putting her career total at 1,766 and into third place on U-Mary's scoring list past Dawn Schaeffer who powered the Marauders from 1979-83. Dietz shot a blistering 17-for-19 from the stripe to go with six rebounds, two assists and one steal in 37 minutes.
 
Hannah Larson finished with 16 points on 7-for-21 from the floor to go with seven rebounds, three assists, four blocks and six steals in 38 minutes played.
 
Rachel Weir added 10 points to the total on a steady 4-for-5 mark from the floor to go with two rebounds, one assist, one block and two steals in 22 minutes on the court.
 
Hayley Niles brought the spark off the bench as she added seven points and four rebounds in 13 minutes, while Haley Hibbs provided three points, four rebounds and four assists in 17 minutes off the bench.
 
The Marauders will head out to Crookston, Minn., tomorrow afternoon to take on the University of Minnesota Crookston, starting at 4 PM.
 
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