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The No. 8 seed Southwest Minnesota State women's basketball team had its season end on Wednesday night with the Mustangs suffering a 72-47 loss to No. 1 seed St. Cloud State in the first round of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference / Sanford Health Tournament.
It was a tale of two halves for the Mustangs as in the first half the Mustangs were 11 of 21 (52.4 percent) from the field but went cold in the second half, shooting just 7 of 28 (25 percent). The Mustangs held the Huskies to a 38.7 percent (24 of 62) field goal percentage but SCSU was 18 of 22 from the free throw line and hit six 3-pointers in the contest.
Jessica Benson, who scored a career-high 32 points in the 77-70 over SMSU earlier in the year was held in check with just seven points. It was Sam Price and Amanda Wagner who stepped up for SCSU in this game as Price finished with 19 points, while Wagner added 15.
SMSU went on a 12-3 run late in the second half to erase the Husky lead and take a 27-26 lead. SCSU would respond with a Sam Price 3-pointer as time expired in the first half to take a 30-28 lead into the break.
After Megan DeRuyter hit a jumper at the 13:09 mark in the second half, SMSU would hit a scoreless drought that would end its season, the Mustangs scored just four points in the span of a little less than 11 minutes.
SCSU would pour it on during the Mustang drought, extending its lead to as much as 19 points before going on a 10-0 run to cap the 25-point victory.
SMSU finished the season with a record of 4-25, 2-20 in the NSIC. St. Cloud State will advance to the quarterfinal round and will host the No. 4 seed Winona State Warriors on Saturday.
