Jan. 2, 2010
Final Stats
The Peacock women's basketball team was a long way from Fayette on Saturday night as they reopened the Northern Sun Conference season with a road game in Bismarck, North Dakota. Upper Iowa took the floor with the Marauders of the University of Mary in a matchup of teams tied for 12th in the NSIC. Both teams took the floor at U-Mary looking to win their first conference game of the season. Each team had a player score 27 points, but the home team took advantage of a 46-16 advantage in points in the paint to win the game 82-67 and improve to 4-7 overall and 1-4 in the NSIC. With the loss, the Peacocks fall to 1-10 overall and 1-4 in conference games.
Upper Iowa struggled from the tip as U-Mary held their guests to just four points in the opening five minutes. The Peacock defense was up to the challenge as they only allowed their hosts nine points in the same time. At the midway point of the first half, the Marauders had moved out to their largest advantage, 21-13, following a jumper by Liz Sipma. The Peacocks began to find their stride over the next few minutes and cut the margin to just four points, 25-21, with 6:09 to play. Unfortunately, U-Mary outscored Upper Iowa 9-3 over the final six minutes of the half to head to the locker room up ten, 34-24.
The home team opened the second half by pushing their lead to sixteen points, 42-26, as the Peacocks turned the ball over two of the first four times they had the ball. UIU cut the lead to nine points, 48-39, following back-to-back three-pointers from Lana Otting. U-Mary did not let the gap stay in single digits for long as they slowly got back to their sixteen point lead, 63-47, with just under nine minutes to play. Upper Iowa made one final charge as they cut the deficit down to just seven points, 67-60, with 4:38 on the clock; the rally was fueled by 8 points from the hand of Otting. The Peacocks would get no closer as the Marauders hit all seven of their free throws in the final three minutes to pull away with the fifteen point victory, 82-67.
Otting led the Peacocks as the sophomore from Cascade, Iowa poured in 27 points, while pulling down 5 rebounds and dishing out 4 assists. The UIU point guard was 7 of 12 from the field including 5 of 7 from beyond the arc; she also 8 of her 10 free throw attempts. Kenya Howard added 17 points and 8 rebounds for UIU.
Liz Sipma came off the bench for the Marauders and scored 27 points on 12-17 shooting from the floor. Sipma also pulled in 7 rebounds. Laura Petersen netted 21 points and also collected 7 boards.
Upper Iowa will be back on the court tomorrow in Aberdeen, South Dakota. The Peacocks and Wolves of Northern State will tip off their Northern Sun Conference showdown at 4 p.m.
