DULUTH, Minn. – Suffering their first conference loss of the season, University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball dropped a 69-51 decision at Minnesota Duluth on Saturday evening. The Cougars fall to 6-2 on the season with a 4-1 record in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
 
Moira Duffy scored a career-high 10 points while the backcourt tandem of Lauren Sanders and Kaely Hummel each reached double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Cougars were held to their lowest field goal percentage of the conference season, shooting 34.7 percent from the field, including a 6-for-22, 27.3 percent effort on 3-pointers. Jacey Huinker had her streak of consecutive games with double-digit rebounds snapped, but she still led the Cougars with eight boards while adding five points.
 
Behind a balanced offensive effort tin the first quarter, the Cougars held a 17-12 lead after the first period. Hummel led USF with five points, including one of her two 3-pointers in the opening minutes. Duffy, who finished 5-6 from the field, posted four points on two shots to help the Cougars to their five-point advantage after the first period.
 
The USF was quickly erased as UMD scored nine unanswered points to open the second quarter. Duffy stopped the run with a lay=up, but UMD reeled off another big run, scoring seven straight before Mariah Szymanski's free throw broke up the spree. Hummel sank her second 3-pointer to bring the deficit back to single digits, but the Bulldogs closed on an 8-2 run for a 39-25 lead at the half.
 
Sioux Falls's deficit reached 20 points after another quick run by UMD gave them a 47-27 lead with just under six minutes to play in the third quarter. Szymanski hit a three and Sanders followed with a lay-up and her second 3-pointer to trim the Bulldog lead to 12 points at 50-38. The teams played a tight final three minutes of the third quarter, including another lay-up by Duffy, but UMD still held a double-digit lead, 54-41, entering the fourth quarter.
 
The Bulldogs maintained the upper hand in the fourth quarter as free throws from Kiara Bradley and Andi Mataloni were the only baskets to break up another UMD run. The Bulldogs answered Mataloni's two foul shots with four straight points, pushing their lead to 20 points with three minutes remaining. Mari Smitsdorff connected on two free throws and Amanda Dagostino hit a lay-up in the closing seconds, bringing the final score to 69-51 in favor of Minnesota Duluth.
 
Sioux Falls wraps up their three-game road trip when they travel to Marshall, Minn. to face Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday, Dec. 16 with tip-off set for 5 p.m.