The Upper Iowa women's basketball team endured a 71-62 loss on the road against cross-divisional foe Northern State University. It was a tale of two halves as the Peacocks led for the first 18:49, but the Wolves took a lead into halftime that they would not relinquish. UIU falls to 4-13 (1-10 NSIC), while NSU improves to 10-7 (7-5 NSIC).
 
Brooke Evenson was the star of the show as she scored a game-high 22 points, just one off the career-high 23 she dropped earlier this season. Evenson made six triples on 10 attempts, setting a new career-high and tying for the seventh-most threes in a game in UIU history. The junior wing also grabbed five rebounds, tied for a game-high with two steals, and notched one block while shooting 8-14 (57.1%).
 
The remaining Peacocks combined to shoot just 13-49, a 26.5% clip. Lydia Haack had eight points on 3-11 (27.3%) shooting, five rebounds, four assists, and a steal. Katie Tornstrom and Mia Huberty notched seven points apiece. Tornstrom tallied a team-high eight rebounds, while Huberty had a pair of rebounds and assists. Savannah Domeyer shot 2-2 to score six points in 10 minutes, tying for a game-high with three blocks and adding three rebounds and one assist in the process. Lexie Lodermeier tallied six points, two rebounds, and two assists. Jessica Musgrave contributed five points, seven rebounds, two assists, and one steal on 2-13 (15.4%) from the floor.
 
Northern State's starters scored all but four of their points, with all five tallying double-digit totals. Kailee Oliverson led the way with an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double. Haley Johnson notched 15 points, eight boards, and five assists. Lexi Roe recorded a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double. Rianna Fillipi scored 11 points, dished six assists, and grabbed four rebounds. Reigning NSIC North Player of the Week, Laurie Rogers contributed 10 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks.
 
The Peacocks got out to a quick 10-5 lead after hitting four of their first five shots, including three-pointers from Tornstrom and Evenson. The Wolves outscored UIU 6-3 to pull within a basket, but layups by Domeyer and Musgrave gave UIU their biggest lead of the first half, 17-11. NSU cut the deficit to just one after a layup in the final second of the quarter, but UIU maintained the wire-to-wire lead through the first 10 minutes, 19-18.
 
The teams started slowly in the second quarter, but Haack made a layup with 8:25 on the clock to break the seal for Upper Iowa. She kickstarted a 7-2 UIU spurt capped off with another triple from Evenson, reclaiming a six-point Peacock lead, 26-20. Northern State flipped the script over the next five minutes, outscoring UIU 10-3 and taking a 30-29 lead with 51 seconds to play that would last until the halftime break.
 
A 5-0 second-half start from the Wolves was halted after Lodermeier converted an and-one. Tornstrom swished home a triple to cut UIU's deficit to 37-35, but Northern State answered with a three of their own on the ensuing possession. Evenson hit consecutive three-pointers to keep the Peacocks within four at 45-41, but NSU closed the period on an 8-2 run to bring a 10-point lead into the final quarter, 53-43.
 
Evenson knocked down another trifecta to open the fourth-quarter scoring, but NSU kept their double-digit lead at 58-48. Evenson stayed hot from deep as she hit her sixth three of the game to pull UIU within seven, but the Wolves responded with a three on the next trip. The long-range shots kept falling as Huberty made a three-pointer through contact on the following look, and she converted the and-one to cap a stretch of 10 points in 27 seconds that say UIU cut the lead to 61-55. 
 
Northern State cut the Upper Iowa comeback short with an 8-0 run over the next two minutes, but the Peacocks responded to the 14-point deficit with back-to-back layups through contact. Huberty converted an and-one while Evenson got the hoop but missed the free throw, bringing UIU within single-digits, 69-60, with three minutes to play. The Peacocks drew an offensive foul on the next possession, but UIU missed three shots on the next possession after Tornstrom grabbed two offensive boards but could not convert. The three-shot possession would prove to be Upper Iowa's last push to pull closer, and Northern State held on to win 71-62.
 
The Peacocks hit nine threes to go plus-15 from distance, but UIU needed 28 attempts from deep and shot just 21-63 (33.3%) from the floor. The Wolves hit 26-of-64 (40.4%) shots and went 4-11 (36.4%) from three. Northern State held a 46-33 rebounding advantage that included a 12-7 margin on the offensive glass, leading to a 30-24 advantage in the paint and a 14-5 margin in second-chance scoring. Despite the rebounding deficit, the Peacocks held a 15-3 edge in fastbreak points and a 10-9 margin in points off turnovers.
 
Up next, the Peacocks travel to Moorhead, Minn. to take on the Dragons of Minnesota State University Moorhead on Saturday, Jan. 22. Tipoff for the cross-divisional NSIC contest is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.