The Peacock women's basketball team couldn't overcome long scoreless periods, falling to the Minnesota State Mavericks 82-48 on Saturday night. Upper Iowa was outscored 22-0 in final 5:44 of the first half and beginning 2:45 of the second, allowing Minnesota State to build a 40-point lead before the Peacock offense woke up. The loss drops UIU to 7-17 on the season and 5-15 in conference.

A quarter of the way through the first half, the Peacocks and Mavericks were tied 10-10. It was at that point that Upper Iowa went cold, going scoreless over the next four minutes as Minnesota State went on a 9-0 run to take the 19-10 lead midway through the opening stanza.

At the 5:44 mark, Ashley Rosenstiel hit a pair of free throws to cut the Maverick lead to 12, 28-16. Unfortunately for the Peacocks, those would be the final points for the visitors in the first half as the Mavericks finished on a 13-0 run to take a 42-16 lead at the break.

The 16 points in the first half was the second lowest total of the year and fewest for UIU since they scored 12 against Wayne State on Jan. 23.

The Peacocks offensive troubles spilled into the second half as Minnesota State scored the first nine points of the period, extending the MSU run to 22-0. Upper Iowa finally broke the scoreless streak 2:45 into the second half with a Laura TerHark three pointer, ending a stretch of 8:29 without a Peacock point.

At the 13:04 mark, the Minnesota State lead reached 40, 62-22. From that point on, however, Upper Iowa outscored the Mavericks 26-20. To kick start the offense, the Peacocks went back to what they have done successfully all year, getting to the hoop and getting fouled. Upper Iowa scored 12 of those final 26 points from the charity stripe, shooting 12-of-15 from free throw line in the final 13 minutes.

After shooting 22.2% (6-27) in the first half, the Peacocks managed to shoot slightly better (32%) in the second half. That just wasn't enough to hang with the Mavericks, who shot 49.2% for the game.

Olivia Meier followed up her career-high last night with 11 points against MSU to lead Upper Iowa. Meier was the only Peacock in double figures. Lauren Buck added six rebounds to build on her record-setting rebounding season.

Upper Iowa will return home next weekend for the final weekend of the regular season. The Peacock face off against Augustana on Friday night before taking on Wayne State on Saturday evening.