Upper Iowa's women's basketball team took on the Golden Eagles of the University of Minnesota Crookston in a Northern Sun Conference cross-division game Friday night in northern Minnesota. The Peacocks took a two-point lead into the break, but the Golden Eagles heated up in the second half knocking down 54% of their shots. UMC outscored UIU 40-29 in the second half to claim the 74-65 victory and improve to 14-5 overall and 11-4 in the NSIC. Upper Iowa drops to 5-16 overall and 4-11 in the conference.
The Golden Eagles jumped out to a quick 8-3 lead as the Peacock offense struggled to find their way in the first five minutes, but Upper Iowa began to close the gap over the final five minutes of the quarter using scores by five different players highlighted by a three-pointer from
Kari Fitzpatrick and four points from
Carly Pagel to take a 16-15 lead at the break. The Peacocks kept the momentum early in the second quarter as their run reached a high mark of 19-7 after a pair of trifectas by
Whitney Kieffer and
Aleesha Cleaver. UIU still led by five, 31-26, after
Sarah Benson nailed a three-pointer with three and a half minutes to play in the half. Minnesota Crookston charged back to take a 34-33 lead with just under a minute to play fueled by an 8-2 run, but UIU would scratch the scoreboard last on a step-back three-pointer by Kieffer from the right wing to take a 36-34 lead back to the locker room.
The game remained close for the majority of the third quarter as the teams were knotted at 52-52 with a minute and a half left on the clock, but the Golden Eagles closed the quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 59-52 advantage. Upper Iowa cut the gap to five points, 61-56, less than a minute into the fourth quarter, but the home team pushed their lead out to fifteen, 74-59, with a big 13-3 run that spanned over six minutes of game time. UIU's defense held the Golden Eagles off the scoreboard over the final three minutes, but could only score six points to cut the gap to nine, 74-65, in the end.
Kieffer led the team in scoring and rebounding with 23 points and 6 boards, while Pagel and Cleaver each added 12 points. The Peacocks won the battle on the boards 38-32, but a 28-11 disadvantage in free throw attempts proved to be too much to overcome. UIU shot all 11 of their free throws in the second half.
Upper Iowa will take on Bemidji State University on Saturday in Bemidji, Minn. at 4 p.m.
