The 2015-16 season came to a close for the Peacock women's basketball team in Moorhead, Minn. on Wednesday night.  Upper Iowa lost their opening round game of the NSIC/Sanford Health Basketball Tournament to the Dragons of Minnesota State University Moorhead, 65-51.  UIU wrapped up the year with a 5-24 mark overall and a 4-18 record in the Northern Sun.
 
With the end of the season also comes the end of the road for two Peacock seniors.  Aleesha Cleaver played for UIU for the last two years scoring 560 points, including 374 this year.  In her 55 games, the Davis, Ill. native averaged 10.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists.  Whitney Kieffer played in her final game as well; the Scales Mound, Ill. product played in 112 games and started all of them.  Kieffer left her mark on the program and is the program record holder in career points with 1,789.  The two-time All-NSIC performer averaged 16 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.5 assists per game in Peacock blue and white.
 
On Wednesday night in Moorhead, the Peacocks came out of the gates well taking a 16-14 lead at the first quarter break.  The Dragons took an early 10-5 lead, but Upper Iowa outscored their hosts 11-4 over the final six and a half minutes of the quarter fueled by six points from Cleaver.  In the second quarter, the Dragons used a 10-2 run to snap an 18-18 tie and claim an eight-point advantage midway through the period.  Upper Iowa fought back and cut the gap to three, 30-27, as Kieffer scored seven straight points for the visitors.  MSUM got the final points of the half though to take a 32-27 lead into the locker room.
 
The Dragons controlled the third quarter from the outset scoring the first five points of the frame to push their lead to ten, 37-27, less than a minute into the quarter.  The lead reached sixteen points, 48-32, at its high mark with two and a half minutes to play in the period.  Back-to-back scores by Carly Pagel and Kieffer cut the gap to eleven, but MSUM scratched the scoreboard one final time in the quarter to grab a 53-40 lead.
 
Upper Iowa opened the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run as they held their hosts without a point for the first four minutes of the period.  Kieffer knocked in a pair of buckets, while Pagel and Sam Ofstad accounted for the other two baskets as the Peacocks found themselves behind by just five points, 53-48, with just over six minutes to play.  Unfortunately, for Upper Iowa, the Dragon defense took over and held the Peacocks to just three points over the final six minutes; all of which came at the free throw line by Pagel.  While the home team's defense held the Peacock offense at bay, the Dragons pushed their lead to a final margin of fourteen, 65-51.
 
Kieffer led all scorers in the game with 23, while Pagel added 15 for the Peacocks.  On the glass, Kieffer pulled down 6 rebounds and Pagel, Karlee Grabau and Sarah Benson all grabbed 5 boards apiece.  Cleaver scored 6 points and added 3 assists and 4 steals in her final game.