The Peacock women's basketball team fell at the hands of the Mavericks of Minnesota State University, Mankato on Friday night inside the Taylor Center. After leading 7-6 with 6:38 left in the opening quarter, the home team used a big 24-0 run over a 9:12 span to lead 30-7 early into the second frame. MSU cruised to a 68-43 win, never trailing by less than 12 after that. With the win, Minnesota State improves to 9-16 overall and 7-12 in the Northern Sun Conference. With the loss, UIU drops to 2-23 and 0-19 in league play.

Upper Iowa got the scoring started first, with freshman Emma Gaber knocking down a three-pointer off a pass from teammate Angelia De Paulo to get the Peacocks on the board first. Ashley Rosenstiel and Bekka Pierson each connected inside to give the Peacocks the 7-6 lead, but the Mavericks would command the game after that. MSU shot 44% from the floor in the first half, and forced 19 turnovers in that time to pull away. The home team led 38-15 at the halftime intermission.

The third quarter was by far the best 10-minute stretch for the Peacocks Friday night, as UIU outscored their opponent 17-10. In that span, Upper Iowa went on an 8-0 run fueled by three-pointers by Gaber and Natalie Dinius. UIU converted eight points in the paint and six second-chance points in the quarter to chip away at the deficit. However, in the fourth, MSU outscored their guests 20-11 to officially put the game away, using a big 13-1 run in the process.

Gaber led UIU in scoring with 12 points on 4-10 shooting, with all 4 makes coming from downtown. Dinius and Rosenstiel each tallied 9 points on the night, with Dinius' point total coming on three trifectas. De Paulo and Haley Martin each hauled in a team-best 5 rebounds on the night.

Upper Iowa will travel over to St. Paul, Minn. for their final road game of the regular season. The Peacocks will meet the Golden Bears of Concordia University, St. Paul at the Gangelhoff Center, with tip-off scheduled for 4 p.m.