MOORHEAD, Minn. (Alex Nemzek Hall) - Senior Heidi Matzke (G, Red Lake Falls, Minn.) netted her fifth 20-point game of the season and 54th of her career, but it wasn’t enough to stop Minnesota State University, Moorhead on their home court Friday as the Dragons posted an 77-57 win over the Beavers in the 2008-09 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) opener in Moorhead, Minn.

Down just 36-28 after the first half, the Beavers saw MSU Moorhead go on a 21-0 run midway through the second half to extend the game out of BSU’s reach, 57-32.

Meghan Rettke scored a game-high 21 points to pace the Dragons. Katie Walden and Alison Nash-Gerlach added 17 and 14 points, respectively while Krista Opheim dished out a game-high seven assists. Nash-Gerlach also grabbed a game-high seven rebounds for the Dragons.

Matzke led the Beavers with 20 points on 6-of-20 shooting, 7-of-9 from the free-throw line, while grabbing a team-high six rebounds and leading the Beavers with a season-high five assists. Samantha Baldwin (Fr., PG, St. Thomas, N.D.) chipped in nine points on 4-of-7 from the field.

Matzke moved into a tie for eight on BSU’s all-time assist list with Jenny Loeck (1993-97) with 245 career assists and is just eight points shy of moving into 11th on BSU’s all-time scoring list.

MSU Moorhead jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead off a layup by Nash-Gerlach but the Beavers tied the game up at 2-2 off a pair of free-throws by Katherine Jamnick (Jr., F, Soudan, Minn.) with 18:30 left in the half. BSU stayed close as a layup by Matzke brought the Beavers to within four points (11-7) with 15:25 remaining in the half.

That was as close as BSU would get the remainder of the half as the Dragons used a 10-0 run over the next 4:14 to push their lead to 21-7. The Beavers out scored MSUM 21-15 in the remainder of the period to trim the deficit to eight points, 36-28, as the halftime horn sounded.

As the second half got under way, the Beavers took advantage of scrappy play to claw their way back to within four points (36-32) at the 18:41 mark. But the door would quickly be closed on the BSU comeback as MSUM rattled off a 21-0 run over the next 7:36 extending their lead to 57-32 with 11:05 left in the game.

The Dragons stretched their lead to as many as 26 points before taking the 77-57 victory.

MSU Moorhead out played the Beavers in virtually every statistical category as the Dragons held BSU to 31.7-percent (19-60) from the floor and 33-3-percent (4-12) from behind the arc while MSUM hit 38.4-percent (28-73) of its shots and was 35.0-percent (7-20) from behind the three point line. MSUM also dominated BSU on the boards, out rebounding the Beavers by 16 (51-35).

With the loss the Beavers fall to 38-49 in the all-time series with MSUM and are now 16-21 all-time in conference openers since 1979-80 and are 10-17 when opening the conference season on the road.

Bemidji State (2-5; 0-1 NSIC) will be back in action tomorrow when the Beavers travel to Minnesota, Crookston for a NSIC tilt. Tip off is set for 6 p.m. from Lysaker Gymnasium in Crookston, Minn.

Bemidji State University, located in Bemidji, Minn., is an NCAA Division II institution and a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).

--beavers--