BOX SCORE

BISMARCK, N.D.- Tying her career-high 23 points, Krista Rabenberg helped the Northern State women's basketball team (19-7, 16-6 NSIC) finish the regular season with a 75-66 win over U-Mary (13-13, 10-12 NSIC) in Northern Sun Intercollegiate action this afternoon in Bismarck.

 

The win gives the Wolves a season-sweep of the Marauders, and secures second place in NSIC standings.

 

A close-fought contest, NSU and Mary notched 12 lead changes and six tied scores on the afternoon with the biggest lead coming in the final ten seconds of the game when Emily Becken hit two free-throws to extend Northern State's lead to nine.

 

With just under four minutes left in the game, Northern State trailed Mary by three points. A minute and a half later, Rabenberg hit a jumper on a pass from Jodi Reinschmidt to cut Mary's lead to one. At the 2:26 mark she capitalized on a three-point play opportunity giving NSU its final lead of the game.

 

Twenty seconds later, Alison Kusler stole the ball from Shaunna Knife and took it to the basket for two points, extending the Wolves lead to four.

 

Cassandra Kelsch finished a lay-up with a minute left to play in the game to cut NSU's lead back to two. Becken answered the basket with a three-pointer on a pass from Kusler 15 seconds later.

 

In the final 30 seconds of play, Becken went 4-4 from the free-throw line to secure the win and finish the contest with 15 points. She also pulled down seven rebounds and dished out six assists.

 

Jodi Reinschmidt shot 9-18 on the day to pour in 19; she also grabbed seven boards while Brittany Euerle pulled down ten.

 

Northern State will host the first round of the NSIC conference tournament on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.  Only the top-eight teams will play in the tournament. By securing the No. 2 spot in NSIC standings, NSU will take on the seventh ranked team. To view NSIC conference standings, click here.