Box Score
Records

Sioux Falls (8-7, 4-7 NSIC) || Upper Iowa (4-11, 3-8 NSIC)

Recap

The Cougars of the University of Sioux Falls put the Peacock women's basketball team into a 19-point hole at halftime and never looked back en route to a 70-56 victory. The loss was Upper Iowa's sixth straight in the NSIC as USF salvaged a split with the Peacocks in the season series.

Prior to tonight's meeting, the Cougars and Peacocks last three games were decided by a total of 8 points. UIU's cold-shooting in the first half put the team in trouble.

After rallying from a 9-2 deficit, the Peacocks took a 10-9 lead thanks to a pair of three-pointers from Sam Thrapp surrounding a Lauren Buck lay in. The one-point lead was Upper Iowa's one and only lead of the night. Over the next nine minutes, Sioux Falls went on a 27-4 run to build their largest lead of the first half, 37-14. By the halftime buzzer, Upper Iowa cut the gap to 19 points, 41-22, but the Cougars' shooting proved to be the difference in the first period.

Sioux Falls shot 47.1% from the floor in the first twenty minutes, while Upper Iowa converted on only 27.3% of their attempts.

The home team extended their lead to 27 points, 62-35, midway through the second half as UIU's offense continued struggling to make shots. Upper Iowa dug deep on both ends of the floor over the final 9:45 of the game holding the Cougars to just 8 points on offense, while scoring 21.

The 21-8 closed the final margin to 14 points, 70-56, and was fueled by three trifectas from the hand of Laura TerHark, five points including a three-pointer from Lindsay Carroll and a pair of jumpers from Olivia Winkler.

UIU took care of the ball during the game with only 7 turnovers, a season-low, and claimed a 21-11 advantage in bench points. All 21 bench points for UIU came in the second half including 19 in the last 9:45 of the contest.

UIU Stat Leaders

Whitney Kieffer... 12 pts, 8 reb., 3 assists | Thrapp... 10 pts, 5 assists | TerHark... 9 pts, 2 assists | Emily Gustafson... 3 pts, 9 reb.

Up Next

The Peacocks will head to Marshall, Minn. for a 5 p.m. start against the Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State University on Saturday. UIU won the first match up in Fayette, 68-60.