Upper Iowa couldn't recover from a cold shooting first half on Friday night as they fell to the University of Minnesota Duluth, 84-60.  The Peacocks outscored their guests 44-43 in the second half, but the 25-point hole at halftime proved too much to overcome.  The loss drops UIU's record to 5-18 overall and 4-13 in the Northern Sun, while UMD improves to 6-14 and 6-11 in the conference.

The Bulldogs held the Peacocks to just three field goals, all of which came in the first quarter, during the opening half.  UIU converted 10 of their 13 free throws, but couldn't get find the range from the field.  Minnesota Duluth, who came in averaging only a half point more than Upper Iowa, poured in 41 points in the first half while shooting 59% from the floor including six of their seven three-point attempts.  

Sarah Benson knocked down a baseline jumper a minute and a half into the third quarter to end a twelve minute drought of field goals for Upper Iowa.  The Peacock offense got aggressive in the third and forced the ball into the paint as Sam Ofstad and Aleesha Cleaver began to find their shots. Ofstad scored 10 in the quarter and Cleaver netted 7 points as the pair accounted for nearly three-quarters of the team's points.  UMD continued to knock down shots from the perimeter led by Kenzie Kane, who scored 17 points on 5-8 shooting from behind the arc.

Cleaver scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter for Upper Iowa and assisted on the next two as Carly Pagel put in a layup.  Upper Iowa closed the gap to 19 points early in the fourth, but couldn't get any closer dropping the contest 84-60.

With her 20 points, Cleaver led the team in scoring and also registered 3 assists, while Ofstad added 12 points for the game.  Whitney Kieffer scored 8 and grabbed 7 boards, while Carly Pagel pulled down 8 rebounds to go with her 7 points and Karlee Grabau snared 5 rebounds to go with her 7 points.

Upper Iowa will return to Prochaska Court on Saturday at 4 p.m. to take on the Huskies of St. Cloud State University.