Box Score
The Peacocks and Warriors of Winona State University were tied at 42-42 with 8:12 remaining in this evening’s Northern Sun Conference opener tonight in southeastern Minnesota. Upper Iowa had converted seven three-pointers in the first half to claim a one-point halftime lead. The Peacocks’ eighth and final trifecta, along with a free throw, tied the contest with just over eight minutes to play. Unfortunately for UIU fans, the home team took over and raced away from their guests thanks to a 25-6 run to close the game out and hand Upper Iowa (3-4, 0-1 NSIC) a 67-48 loss.
Winona State improves to 7-1 overall with the victory which came just eight days after a win over Upper Iowa in Fairbanks, Alaska in the Mt. McKinley Bank North Star Invitational over Thanksgiving weekend.
Upper Iowa put their loss to the Warriors just eight days ago out of their mind before the tip and came out firing from long range. In the opening half,
Lindsay Carroll hit a trio of three-pointers and added one more bucket for a team-high 11 points.
Chelsea Garcia added a pair of trifectas, while
Laura TerHark and
Jennifer Herrick each added one. UIU hit 50% (7-14) of their long distance attempts to account for 75% of their points claiming a 28-27 advantage heading to the break. The Peacocks forced the Warriors into 9 first half turnovers while only coughing it up six times, but Winona State’s defense did lock down UIU’s leading scorer
Whitney Kieffer, who did not score in the first half.
In the second half, Winona State was able to retake the lead and extended it to four points on a few occasions. After Kieffer broke through for a quick four points, the Warriors hit a pair of free throws to claim a 42-38 lead. Herrick drained UIU’s eighth triple of the evening and Garcia knocked in one of two at the charity stripe to tie the game for the sixth time at 42-42.
Winona State exploded over the final eight minutes of the contest scoring 25 points hitting eight of their nine attempts over that span and forcing three Peacock turnovers and poor shooting as UIU hit only one of their final eight attempts.
The home team claimed big advantages in points off turnovers 17-2 and points in the paint 26-12. Upper Iowa converted over 42% (8-19) of their three-pointers, but only managed to score on 8 other field goals in the game.
Carroll finished with a team-high 15 points for UIU, while Herrick added 9 points and Garcia netted 7.
Carly Pagel and Kieffer both scored 6 points.
Sam Thrapp handed out 4 assists and Herrick added 3 helpers.
Upper Iowa will remain on the road next weekend with a pair of NSIC games on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 7 and 8. The Peacocks will take on the Golden Bears of Concordia University, St. Paul on Friday at 6 p.m. and then head west to face the Mavericks of Minnesota State University, Mankato on Saturday at 4 p.m.
