Box Score Records
Upper Iowa (5-19, 4-16 NSIC) || St. Cloud State (14-10, 10-10 NSIC)
Recap
The Upper Iowa women's basketball team hung with the Huskies of St. Cloud State for 31 minutes of Saturday's matchup. Yet despite setting a season-high with 14 steals and a total of 21 Husky turnovers, the Peacock defense couldn't stop SCSU down the stretch. The Huskies outscored their hosts, 16-11, in the final nine minutes of action to steal an 88-79 victory inside Dorman Gym.
In front of 225 fans dressed in pink – in support of the Kay Yow Foundation and breast cancer awareness –
Whitney Kieffer was magnificent on both ends of the floor. On defense, she tied a career-high with 7 steals, while nearly breaking her career mark with 33 points. The junior guard hit 13-of-24 shots, including 4-of-7 threes as she led all scorers.
Yet despite her admirable performance, the Peacocks couldn't keep pace with their foes from the north in this old-fashioned shoot-out.
From the tip, the teams were off and running as each team hit the double-digit mark in the first four minutes. Despite UIU controlling the opening tip, SCSU earned a quick steal and converted the turnover into points on the other end. The Peacocks answered with a baseline jumper from
Lauren Buck.
The teams were tied at 4-all at the 18:29 mark in the first half before SCSU drained a three. Kieffer answered right back as she connected on a three as the shot-clock buzzer sounded. The Peacocks then took their first lead of the game at the 17:35 mark thanks to another jumper from Buck.
Emily Gustafson added her third free throw of the game less than a minute later to tie the game at 10-all, but SCSU was just getting started. The Huskies outscored their hosts 10-1 over the next two minutes. SCSU began 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and through the first seven minutes, the Huskies hit 10 of their 14 attempts – a blazing 71-percent shooting clip.
Kieffer finally stopped the bleeding with a three from the corner before
Carly Pagel scratched the scoreboard on the Peacocks' next possession. SCSU maintained its eight-point lead thanks to buckets from Lexy Petermann and Sam Price.
Midway through the first half, Kieffer cut into the visitor's lead with back-to-back buckets, the second of which she created herself by earning her fourth steal of the game.
Sam Thrapp then hit four-straight free throws to pull UIU within two, 30-28.
A minute later, Kieffer hit back-to-back treys – her fifth and sixth of the game – to give her team a two-point lead, 34-32. SCSU bounced right back thirty seconds later to tie the game at 34-all with a Jessica Benson layup, but the Huskies were satisfied with a tie. After stopping UIU on the other end, Rachael Moen drilled a trifecta to retake the lead.
Olivia Winkler hit two free throws on the other end, but SCSU was starting to heat up. Including Benson's and Moen's buckets, the Huskies outscored the Peacocks 13-3 in a span of five minutes.
UIU kept the visitor's lead to single-digits thanks to a pair of free throws from Buck and a drive and jumper from Kieffer, who had a game-high 18 points in the first half. UIU connected on one final bucket of the first half as
Lindsay Carroll drained a three from the wing. SCSU ended the period with a free throw as they took a 50-44 lead into intermission.
Despite giving up a three to start the second half, the Peacocks had a quick start on offense. Kieffer hit the 20-point plateau with two freebies from the charity stripe. On the next possession, Buck knocked down a three to pull UIU within four, 53-49, with 19:13 left in regulation.
Kieffer sandwiched a Huskies' three with back-to-back jumpers to cut the SCSU lead to three, 56-53. The teams exchanged a pair of free throws before Kieffer scored again – this time on a layup. But the visitors weren't going away. Price scored five straight points for the Huskies before Kieffer created another scoring opportunity.
This time, it was a pass from the Scales Mound, Illinois native that helped the Peacocks get on the board as she fed Pagel for a wide-open layup off the glass. After SCSU answered with a bucket on the other end, Kieffer went back to work on defense. She earned her sixth steal of the game, converted the layup while also drawing contact. At the line, she drained the free throw, pushing her point total to 29 and the SCSU lead to three, 65-62, with 12:19 to play.
Three minutes later it was still a three-point lead for SCSU, 71-68, as Kieffer drained a jumper and surpassed the 30-point mark. The Huskies bounced back with Price's third trifecta of the game. Once again, UIU turned to Kieffer.
The junior wing swiped her seventh steal and pulled within two points of her career-high with a jumper in transition. Unfortunately, that was the last time UIU would score for the next four and a half minutes.
SCSU switched to a zone defense and frustrated the UIU offense as the Huskies outscored their hosts, 9-0 during that stretch. Carroll broke the scoreless streak with two free throws. The junior guard then hit a three from the wing to pull UIU within eight, 83-75, with 3:20 left to play.
Carroll's hot hand propelled UIU to a 9-0 run, with 7 of those points coming from the Roscoe, Illinois native. The offensive burst pulled the home team within three points, 83-79, with 1:26 left in regulation.
After three straight Husky free throws, the Peacocks had one more chance to cut into the seven-point lead, but they couldn't capitalize. SCSU added two more free throws before it was all said and done. The Huskies shot 43-percent in the 88-79 win, while UIU finished with a 40-percent shooting clip.
Stat of the Game
UIU forced a season-high 21 SCSU turnovers, while their 14 steals was also a season-high.
UIU Leaders
Kieffer (33 points, 13-for-24 FG, 7 rebounds, 7 steals, 2 assists), Carroll (15 points, 5-for-5 FG, 2 rebounds, 1 assist), Buck (13 points, 7 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal, 1 assist), Pagel (7 points, 6 rebounds, 1 block)
Up Next
The Peacocks will look to end their eight-game skid next Friday night as UIU hosts Augustana inside Dorman Gym at 6 p.m.
