DULUTH, Minn. (Romano Gymnasium) -- The Bemidji State University women’s basketball team broke into the win column in a major way Saturday defeating No. 4 St. Cloud State University, 79-69, in American Family Insurance Classic play at Romano Gymnasium in Duluth, Minn.
Fueled by a second half in which the Beavers shot over 53-percent, drained seven three-pointers and got a 9-of-11 performance by Amy Lawson (Jr., PG, Spencer, Iowa) from the free-throw line, BSU erased a ten-point first half deficit (37-27) out scoring the Huskies 52-32 during the final 20 minutes en route to a 79-69 victory.
Bemidji State improved to 1-3 in the game as the team handed the Huskies their first loss of the season (3-1).
Junior forward Stephanie Peterson (Bismarck, N.D.) poster her second consecutive double-double netting a team-high 18 points while leading BSU to a 50-32 advantage on the glass with 12 rebounds. Lawson equaled career-highs with 16 points and eight rebounds while adding and six assists and Bridget Smith (So., G, Burnsville, Minn.) dropped in a career-best 16 points with nine coming from behind the three-point arc in the second half.
St. Cloud State got 25 points, 12 rebounds and six blocked shots out of its All-American candidate Erika Quigley. Shannon Francis added 18 points and six assists while Katie Tacheny scored 12 points.
BSU shot out of the gates netting the first five points the game and held the lead until Francis hit a trey with 13:32 to go in the first half. The basket would give the Huskies an 11-9 advantage and with the lead was in their grasp, the Huskies would run with it.
SCSU used a 12-3 run during the next three minutes to stretch its lead to 18-12 and by the five-minute mark the Huskies were up 30-18.
As the half wound down, the Beavers would trim that lead to 10 points to go into to halftime trailing 37-27.
In the opening moments of the second half, St. Cloud State increased its lead to 13 points (43-30), but a 7-0 run by the Beavers, sparked by a Smith triple, would close the gap to six points (43-37) with nearly 17 minutes to go in the contest.
The teams traded points for the next three minutes but a Lawson three would cap another BSU seven-point run to tie the game at 48-48 with 13 minutes to play.
After the Huskies rebuilt their lead to five (53-48), the Beavers regrouped and rattled off eighth straight points using a Heidi Matzki long-range jumper to take a 56-53 lead midway through the half.
During the next five minutes the Huskies would battle back to regain the lead (63-62) but an additional Matzki triple with 4:54 on the clock would put the Beavers in the lead for good. Lawson added seven points from the line during the game’s final minute to help BSU hold on to the win.
The Beavers (1-3) get the regular season underway next weekend (Dec. 1-2) when they travel to Wayne State College Friday for a 6 p.m. tilt. Saturday the team is off to Southwest Minnesota State University. Tip off for that NSIC match-up is also set for 6 p.m.
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