WAYNE, Neb. - On a night where senior forward Brittney Dietz blazed a trail in the record book, the University of Mary Women's Basketball team left Rice Auditorium without the win to extend their season as they fell in the opening round of the 2016 NSIC/Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament to host Wayne State College.
 
The Marauders (15-16) closed out a strong first half with a six-point lead, but the Wildcats (17-11) came roaring back in the third quarter to take a 14-point lead into the fourth and held on to send U-Mary back to Bismarck empty-handed at 78-69.
 
Dietz was only seven points away from setting a new U-Mary career scoring record, and was 18 away from setting a new U-Mary single-season record, but the tale of the first half was about defense as the Marauders held the Wildcats to 25% from the field, including 1-for-12 from beyond the arc, to set the tone early in the contest.
 
Wayne State opened up the game on a 10-2 run ending at the 6:27 mark of the first on a pair of free throws from Alisa Peterson as the Marauder's offense struggled to get going early, but the defense allowed only two field goals for the rest of the frame as Rachel Weir got the ball rolling with a driving layup with 6:13 remaining.
 
U-Mary eventually closed within one thanks to a trey each from Dietz and Haley Hibbs, capped off with a driving layup from Dani Clarke, to end the first quarter on a high note and down only one at 19-18 heading into the second.
 
Dani Williams provided the spark at the start of the period to get U-Mary's offense into gear as she nailed the three-pointer at the 9:23 mark, coupled with a jumper in the paint at the 8:45 mark to give the Marauders a 23-19 lead over the Wildcats.
 
Wayne State fired off six straight points to retake the lead at 25-23 with 5:11 remaining in the half, but Dietz scored her seventh point of the contests at the 3:05 mark of the second quarter to tie the game at 25-25 and move into first place on U-Mary's all-time scoring list past Jessica Zundel.
 
The Wildcats added two more free throws at the 2:50 mark for a brief 27-25 lead, but the Marauders closed out the half on an 8-0 run as they forced five missed shots from Wayne State and got four points from Hannah Larson, two from Hayley Niles, and two from Dietz for a 33-27 lead at halftime.
 
U-Mary held onto the lead midway through the third quarter as Larson and Dietz teamed up for the first eight points of the frame for the Marauders and a 41-34 advantage with 6:46 remaining, but the Wildcats fired off a 23-3 run over the next five minutes of game time to seize the momentum and a 57-44 lead by the 1:05 mark.
 
Dietz added a couple of jumpers before the end of the quarter but it did little to stem the tide as Wayne State capped off the period with a three-pointer from Kacie O'Conner to beat the buzzer and gave the Wildcats a 62-48 cushion going into the fourth.
 
Larson started to take over the scoring in the final frame as she recorded 12 of her 27 in the fourth quarter, and Dietz earned her 18th point of the match at the start with a free throw to bring her season total to 674, just one more than Sarah Leer's mark in the 2003-04 season.
 
Unfortunately, it would be the last point she would score as Larson took over in an attempt to keep U-Mary's season alive, and got as close as 69-63 with 4:40 remaining in the game on Weir's fast break layup, but the Wildcats matched the Marauders shot-for-shot through the rest of the game as they held on for the decision at 78-69.
 
Hannah Larson finished with 27 points on 9-for-22 shooting from the floor and a 9-for-10 mark from the charity stripe, and added seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal before fouling out after 37 minutes on the court.
 
Brittney Dietz ended up with 18 points, six rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steal as she played all 40 minutes of the game. She has set a new career scoring record for U-Mary with 1,836 career points, and a new single-season scoring record with 674.
 
Rachel Weir added eight points on 4-for-6 shooting from the field, to go with five rebounds, one block and one steal before fouling out after 30 minutes on the floor; while Dani Williams notched seven points, one rebound and one steal in 31 minutes played.
 
Haley Hibbs and Hayley Niles were the first to come off the bench as Hibbs recorded five points and four rebounds, while Niles finished with two points and three rebounds.
 
Though the season comes to an end for the University of Mary Women's Basketball team, there is much to look forward to as the Marauders will return three starters for the 2016-17 season, while adding several new members from the early signing period.
 
The NSIC/Sanford Health Women's Basketball Tournament will continue with the quarterfinals scheduled for Sunday, February 28, starting at 12 PM in the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., while the championship will take place on Tuesday, March 1 at 7:30 PM.
 
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