For the second night in a row, the Upper Iowa women's basketball team played a tightly-contested Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game that came down to the final seconds. The Peacocks made a valiant effort to overcome a third quarter hole, but there wasn't enough time left on the clock to complete the comeback as Minot State University came away with a narrow 72-69 victory. With the win, Minot State improved to 11-13 overall and 6-12 in the conference while Upper Iowa fell to 3-23 (0-18 NSIC).

After the Peacocks found themselves in a 14-point hole following the Beavers' big third quarter, Upper Iowa opened the final leg on a 13-1 run to cut the gap to two, 59-57, with 4:28 left in the game. Mariah Payne pushed the Beavers' lead back to seven with five quick points but Upper Iowa kept battling with a 12-6 run including an Emma Gaber triple that brought the score to 70-69 in MiSU's favor. Unfortunately for the Peacocks, there were just 1.8 ticks left on the clock and the Beavers made their final two free throws to leave Fayette with a 3-point win.

Gaber made 5-of-11 shots including four from downtown to finish with 14 points. The sophomore also added three assists, two rebounds, a block and a steal. Haley Martin brought down a game-high nine rebounds and scored a season-high 14 points on 4-for-7 shooting from the field and 6-of-6 at the line. Marina Peinado handed out four assists and made a season-high three scores from deep to reset her career-high points at nine. Casey Miles finished with a career-high seven assists.

Both teams battled back and forth in the opening minutes. The Peacocks started slow going 0-for-3 in the first three possessions but made up for it over the next 3:39 when they made 6-of-6 from the floor. Upper Iowa captured its largest lead of the night, 16-10, after two converted free throws from Bekka Pierson, but MiSU responded with a 13-5 run that extended to the 2^nd quarter media timeout and gave the Beavers a 23-21 advantage. UIU was able to regroup during the stoppage and ended the first half on a 15-9 run, which gave the Peacocks a 36-32 halftime lead.

Minot State picked up the pressure in the 3^rd quarter and forced the Peacocks into more turnovers than points in the frame while exploding for 26 points. The Beavers shot a blistering 75.0 percent from the floor while UIU was held to 1-for-6 shooting and committed nine turnovers, which turned into 15 points for the visitors. The tables turned in the 4^th quarter, though, as the Peacocks made 47.1 percent of their shots while similarly holding MiSU to one basket. UIU made three 3-pointers and all six foul shots but the Beavers used their 3^rd quarter cushion and made 11-of-14 free throws to hold on for the win.

Minot State held a slight advantage in shooting percentage with a 45.6 shooting clip compared to UIU's 41.2 percent. The Peacocks held the advantage at the charity stripe, though, making 82.6 percent of their attempts while the Beavers made 71.4 percent. Upper Iowa made eight shots from downtown, the most in seven games.

The Beavers were led by Mariah Payne who poured in 23 points to go with five assists and two steals. Calli Delsman filled the stat sheet with 17 points, eight rebounds, a block, an assist and a steal. Madison Wald had 13 points, four steals, two assists, three rebounds and a block.

Upper Iowa hits the road for the final time in the regular season next weekend. The Peacocks will face Southwest Minnesota State University on Friday, Feb. 15 at 5:30 p.m. and the University of Sioux Falls Cougars on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 3:30 p.m.