The Upper Iowa Women’s Basketball team mounted a second half comeback but fell just short as they dropped their second Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game Friday night when the Bulldogs of Minnesota Duluth held on for a 70-65 victory over UIU in Duluth, Minn. Lana Otting and Heidi McKean scored 16 points each in the loss, the Peacocks outscored UMD 38-33 in the second half of a turnover plagued contest.

Minnesota Duluth jumped out to a quick 18-4 lead early in the first half before Chelsea Garcia buried her first three-point bucket within two minutes at the 14:12 mark to pull the Peacocks back within 11 at 18-7. The second three-point shot followed a Bulldog three pointer to make the score 21-10 with half of the first frame to play before the break.

The two teams remained even throughout the next ten minutes of play but Upper Iowa cut into UMD’s lead just before halftime to make the score 37-27 going into halftime. McKean led UIU at the break with eight points while Jeri Jacobson tallied seven thanks in part to three makes from the charity stripe.

Upper Iowa came out of the halftime break firing on all cylinders as they went on a 10-2 run to cut the Bulldog lead to just two points, 39-37 with 16 minutes left to play in the second half.

Minnesota Duluth then took control of the contest again by running their lead out to 14 points on two separate occasions, but the Peacocks wouldn’t go away quietly and cut the margin back to three points when Chelsea Arndt netted a three with 1:24 remaining in the contest to give UMD a 68-65 lead. A late three point shot to tie the contest by Jacobson was missed and UMD escaped with a slim five point win, 70-65.

Otting scored 16 points on seven-of-nine shooting while McKean tied the junior with 16 points of her own. Arndt chipped in ten points by going four-of-five from the floor which included a pair of trifectas. Upper Iowa shot a season-best 56.1% from the field but turned the ball over 26 times in the contest.