The Northern State women's basketball team dropped its first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference road game of the season 78-64 on Friday.
The Marauders, who averaged 7.7 made three-point field goals coming in, nailed 13 three-pointers against the Wolves. Mary attempted 23 in the game.
"You have to give Mary a lot of credit," NSU coach Curt Fredrickson said. "Anytime you go 13-for-23 from that three-point line, you are going to win a lot of games."
Mary's Alli Collins tossed in a game-high 24 points to go along with 11 assists. She made five of her seven three-point attempts, after making only three coming into the game. The Wolves trailed 33-27 at halftime. The Marauders made their first three shots of the second half to take a 40-27 lead. Mary then built its lead to as much as 20 points midway through the second half.
"They knocked some threes down in that second half that really hurt us," Fredrickson said.
The Wolves kept chipping away at the lead and cut the deficit down to single digits and got as close as 66-60 with three minutes, 10 seconds left. Mary's Brittney Dietz and Collins then made back-to-back threes to push the lead back to 72-60 to take command of the game for good.
"That second half," Fredrickson said, "we threw the ball away three times and we got down six to down 16, that really did us in."
Alison Kusler led the Wolves with 18 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists. Sarah Hintz finished with 16 points, including 10-for-12 from the foul line. Megan Mutchler added 11 points. The Wolves' leading scorer, Rachel Krogman, went 0-for-7 from the field and did not score. The sophomore forward did finish with seven rebounds.
"We didn't get anything from our post tonight and that hurt us," Fredrickson said.
Northern State (4-2, 0-2) will play at Minot State tonight in another NSIC women's basketball game.
NORTHERN STATE (4-2, 0-2): Sarah Hintz 3-10 10-12 16, Megan Mutchler 3-6 4-5 11, Rachel Krogman 0-7 0-0 0, Kara Hofschild 1-5 2-5 5, Alison Kusler 7-12 3-4 18, Erin Rabenberg 1-3 0-0 3, MacKinzie Magner 0-1 0-0 0, Devon Brecke 3-7 0-2 6, Megan Krogman 0-1 0-0 0, Yvonne Freese 1-2 1-2 3, Sadie Stotesbery 1-3 2-4 4. Totals 20-57 22-34 66.
UNIVERSITY OF MARY (5-2, 1-1): Shaunna Knife 2-4 0-0 5, Kaitlyn Haag 5-11 0-1 10, Ali Collins 9-14 1-2 24, McKenzie Foster 3-4 0-0 8, Laura Petersen 0-5 2-2 2, Taylor Luke 1-4 0-0 3, Lindsey Sand 3-4 4-6 12, Kelsey Peltier 1-3 0-0 3, Shanara Clark 0-2 0-0 0, Brittney Dietz 3-5 4-4 11. Totals 27-56 11-15 78.
Halftime score -- Mary 33-27. 3-point field goals -- Northern 4-15 (Hintz 0-1, Mutchler 1-1, Hofschild 1-3, Kusler 1-4, Rabenberg 1-2, Magner 0-1, Brecke 0-2, Stotesbery 0-1); Mary 13-23 (Knife 1-3, Collins 5-7, Foster 2-3, Petersen 0-2, Luke 1-2, Sand 2-2, Peltier 1-2, Dietz 1-2). Total fouls -- Northern 14; Mary 24. Fouled out -- Northern, Kusler; Mary, Knife, Collins. Rebounds -- Northern 41 (Krogman 7); Mary 33 (Knife 6). Assists -- Northern 10 (Kusler 4); Mary 19 (Collins 11). Blocks -- Northern 0; Mary 4 (Haag 3). Steals -- Northern 6 (Hofschild 3); Mary 12 (Collins 4). Turnovers -- Northern 16; Mary 19. Officials -- Dave Johnson, Kevin Sundre, Paul Mellum.