BISMARCK, N.D. - Playing for the opportunity to improve their seeding in the NSIC Championship, the University of Mary Women's Basketball team took on St. Cloud State University to wrap up the Alumni Weekend festivities.
 
The Marauders (15-15, 9-13 NSIC) had to endure another second-half comeback attempt, but the offense held on long enough to secure the 73-66 win over the Huskies (13-13, 12-10 NSIC). Coupled with Minot State University's loss to the University of Minnesota Duluth, the Marauders will face Wayne State College on the road in the opening round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament.
 
Before getting to that point, U-Mary had to handle the opponent in their immediate vicinity as they opened up the first quarter with a 7-2 lead over the Huskies by the 6:40 mark as Brittney Dietz continued her hunt on the Marauder's all-time scoring list with a layup-and-one to start the game.
 
St. Cloud State fought right back to tie the game at 11-11 with 2:47 remaining in the first as Karissa LeCaptain closed the gap on the scoreboard with back-to-back jumpers to keep the Huskies hot on the trail. A pair of treys from Dani Clarke and Hannah Larson bookended the final eight points of the frame for the Marauders as they held a 19-17 lead going into the second quarter despite LeCaptain's final basket of the frame to keep St. Cloud State within one possession.
 
Chelsea Nooker tied the contest for the Huskies to start the second frame as she sunk a pair of shots from the charity stripe, and LeCaptain gave them a brief 21-19 lead at the 8:46 mark when her jumper in the paint found the bottom of the net.
 
U-Mary's offense kicked into high gear as Dietz sparked a 15-0 run over the next four minutes of game time with a pair of free throws, while Haley Hibbs found her mark from beyond the arc with a trio of treys, and Clarke and Hayley Niles sunk a driving layup each to give the Marauders a commanding 34-21 lead by the 4:18 mark of the frame.
 
The Huskies chipped away at the lead as Andrea Thomas drove home a shot from the perimeter while Betsy MacDonald nailed a midrange jumper to put the score at 34-26 with 3:21 to play, but Dietz turned to the free throw line with a quartet of shots to keep the Marauders well ahead at 38-29 and Hibbs made her fourth three-pointer of the frame to cement the score at 41-31 going into halftime.
 
U-Mary came out cannons blazing at the start of the third with a 6-0 run spearheaded by four points from Dietz and a fast break layup from Rachel Weir to put the score at 47-31 by the 9:08 mark, but the Huskies' defense went into lockdown as they fired off a 12-0 run over the next five minutes to claw their way back into the game at 47-43 with 3:44 remaining in the period.
 
Dietz broke the dry spell with a jumper at 3:28 to keep the cushion at 49-43, but the Huskies closed out the frame on a 6-2 run to keep the Marauders within a possession at 51-49 going into the final quarter.
 
The teams traded baskets throughout most of the fourth quarter with U-Mary owning the biggest lead at 62-56 with 4:16 left in the game, but the Huskies closed back in with a MacDonald trey and a pair of LeCaptain free throws to narrow the margin back down to 62-61 at the 1:40 mark of the period.
 
Dietz sunk another two free throws to give the Marauders  64-61 lead, and after a missed jumper from Thomas, Dani Williams sunk the dagger-three for a comfortable 67-61 lead with less than a minute left in the game.
 
MacDonald responded almost immediately with a three-pointer of her own to put the score at 67-64 in U-Mary's favor, but the Marauders would close out the game from the charity stripe once again as Dietz, Hibbs, and Weir each nailed two free throws to finalize the score at 73-66, completing the Alumni Weekend sweep.
 
Brittney Dietz finished with 25 points on the afternoon on a 15-for-17 mark from the free throw line to become the second player in U-Mary's history to surpass 1,800 career points. She now has 1,818 total to pass Betsy Emerson on the Marauder's all-time scoring list and is only six points away from tying Jessica Zundel's mark of 1,824 set from 2001-05 for the number one spot. Dietz also finished with eight rebounds, six assists and one steal in 39 minutes played.
 
Hannah Larson was active per her usual self as she ended up with 11 points, six rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal while battling foul trouble in 33 minutes on the floor.
 
Haley Hibbs brought the spark off the bench once again as she notched 14 points on a 4-for-6 mark from beyond the arc in addition to six rebounds and one assist in 26 minutes of action.
 
The Marauders will travel to Wayne, Neb., next Wednesday, February 24, to take on Wayne State College starting at 7 PM in the opening round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament.
 
NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament Website
 
Printable PDF Bracket
 
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