ST. PAUL, Minn. - After erasing a 17-point deficit, University of Sioux Falls women's basketball couldn't break through for their first win against Concordia-St. Paul and dropped a 76-72 decision. The Cougars's three-game win streak was snapped and are now 13-4 on the season, 9-4 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

Behind stellar three-point shooting, Jaicee Ulmer tied a season high with 22 points and five threes, leading the comeback. With a big second half from Marie Malloy, the Cougars took a 72-71 lead with 2:06 remaining, but final three USF possessions ended in a block and two turnovers, preventing them from coming away with a victory.

The first half was tightly contested outside of a five minute stretch in which the Cougars couldn't score and Concordia-St. Paul's Lauren Shifflett hit back-breaking threes. USF trailed byt seven early, but Ulmer began to find her stroke and tied the game at 13-13 with one of three first-half 3-pointers.

From there, the Sioux Falls scoring well went dry. Concordia St. Paul opened up a 15-0 run spanning 4:41 and led 28-13. Sam Knecht finally ended the scoring drought with a layup, but the Cougars were in a big hole. Ulmer cut into that CU advantage with nine points in less than two minutes, connecting on two more threes and converted a fast break and-one.

With Ulmer's scoring surge the Cougars cut the lead to seven after Malloy hit a layup, but Shifflett hit a three and Amanda Barton closed the half on a 7-0 run to give the Golden Bears a 44-30 halftime lead.

Opening the second half, Concordia-St. Paul hit a 3-pointer to push their lead to 17. Alison Klostergaard sparked the USF comeback with a pair of layups and Mackenzie Dahl brought the CU lead to single digits at 47-39 after a 3-pointer just more than three minutes into the half.

The Cougars and Golden Bears bounced back in forth, but USF continued to climb closer. At 10:28 in the second half, Teagan Molden hit a three which brought Sioux Falls to within two points, 58-56. Sioux Falls couldn't get closer than that and appeared to be out of comeback opportunities when Kionda Nicks converted a three-point play and pushed the Concordia-St. Paul advantage to 68-61 with 5:36 to play.

That's when Ulmer stepped up big again. The senior sharpshooter hit her career-best-tying fifth three-point field goal of the game and Malloy would hit two free throws pulling USF to just a one-point margin. One possession later and down by a point, Taylor Varsho's layup rimmed out but Sam Knecht gathered the rebound as it caromed out of bounds and found Varsho all alone under the basket to give the Cougars a 72-71 advantage.

The lead didn't last long as Anika Whiting hit a pair of free throws and Sioux Falls came up empty on their next three possessions, including a pair of turnovers, and suffered their first defeat in four games.

Shifflett, Barton, and Whiting all scored at least 16 points for the Golden Bears and Kposted a game-high 11 boards for the Cougars.

USF looks to rebounding quickly in Mankato, Minn. as they take on Minnesota State tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m.