St. Cloud, Minn. – Northern State women's basketball dropped a close match to St. Cloud State Saturday evening, after having 15 lead changes throughout the game.
 
THE QUICK DETAILS
Scores: NSU 64, SCSU 69
Record: NSU 12-14 (NSIC 8-11), SCSU 19-5 (NSIC 16-4)
Attendance: 1235
 
 
HIGHLIGHTS
•    The Wolves got off to a quick start against the Huskies with a 7-point lead halfway through the first quarter of play
•    Northern State was rolling in the first ten minutes of play as they led for the entire first quarter
•    NSU out-shot SCSU 66.7% to 28.6% from the floor, not allowing the Huskies to make a single shot from beyond the arc
•    The Wolves shot 75.0% from beyond the 3-point line in the first quarter
•    To start the second quarter of play, St. Cloud found their first 3-point basket of the game dropping the Wolves' lead to two points
•    With four minutes left before half time, NSU found themselves trailing for the first time in the game after Kelsey Peschel of SCSU hit a three to put the Huskies up by one
•    Northern State was not down for long as Alayna Johnson and Shariah Smith's bucket in the paint put the Wolves back on top by one with just under two minutes to play before half
•    Brianna Kusler found Jessi Marti for the fastbreak three, extending the lead to four points with a minute and a half left in the second
•    Northern shot 43.7% from the floor and 20.0% from 3-point in the second quarter, leading  34-32 at half time
•    NSU and SCSU saw eight lead changes and five ties in the third quarter
•    The Wolves shot 50.0% from the floor and the 3-point line in the third quarter; they also made their first appearance at the free throw line in the contest, shooting 75.0%
•    With 5:55 left to play in regulation NSU and SCSU found themselves in another tie at 58-58
•    The Wolves shot 48.1% from the floor, 33.3% from 3-point distance and 87.5% at the foul line in the loss
•    NSU made 36 points in the paint with 19 points off 13 St. Cloud turnovers
•    Northern State out-rebounded SCSU 34-24 in the game, grabbing 11 offensive rebounds
 
Northern State Statistical Standouts
•    Brianna Kusler: 83.3 FG%, 50.0 3pt%, 100.0 FT%, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 23 points
•    Jessi Marti: 45.4 FG%, 66.6 3pt%, 2 steals and 12 points
•    Shariah Smith: 100.0 FT%, 4 assists, 1 steal and 9 points
•    Joie Spier: 50.0 FG%, 100.0 FT%, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 6 points
 
UP NEXT
Northern State women's basketball returns home next weekend as they close out NSIC regular season action. The Wolves will tip-off at 5:30 p.m. on Friday against UMary and 4 p.m. on Saturday. Versus Minot State