MOORHEAD, Minn. – Looking to bounce back from their first loss in five games, University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball couldn't climb out of an early deficit and fell, 69-58, at MSU Moorhead on Saturday evening. With their second straight loss, Sioux Falls drops to 13-7 on the season with a 10-6 mark in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, which holds them in third place of the NSIC south division.
 
Junior forward Jacey Huinker paced the Cougars as she recorded her third double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds, the 11th time she has grabbed 10-or-more rebounds.
 
The Cougars' shooting woes carried over from their slow night at Northern State on Friday, but with a 50-percent effort in the fourth quarter they finished at 34.8 percent for the night, hitting 23 of 66 shots against the Dragons. Against NSU, USF attempted a season-low 10 three-point field goals, but returned to their deep-shooting ways, taking 24 threes and hitting eight to finish with a 33.3 percent rate.
 
Taking nearly half of USF's three-point attempts, Kaely Hummel shook out of her first-quarter shooting slump to hit five 3-pointers and lead the Cougars in scoring with 17 points. Augusta Thramer also reached double figures as she scored 10 and tied with Hummel for team-high in assists with four each.
 
USF's slow shooting was magnified by the MSU Moorhead's low-post duo of Drew Sannes and Megan Hintz, who combined for 40 points and 24 rebounds. The Sannes-Hintz combo also grabbed five of MSUM's 10 offensive rebounds, which led to 16 points.
 
NSIC north division leader MSU Moorhead (17-3, 14-2 NSIC) quickly showed why they have only two conference losses this year as they raced out to an 8-0 lead and held the Cougars scoreless for nearly five minutes. Huinker got the Cougars on the board with a jump shot and the Cougars cut their deficit to five, 11-6, following Mariah Szymanski's pull-up jumper and a bucket from Mari Smitsdorff. However, USF went scoreless for the remainder of the opening quarter and the Dragons held a 20-7 lead after one period.
 
The Cougars shook off an 0-for-4 effort from three in the first quarter, hitting four 3-pointers in the second, but MSU Moorhead's efficient offense helped expand on their lead. The Cougars made four of their first five three-point attempts in the second frame with Hummel hitting two, Szymanski one and Lauren Sanders's three cutting MSUM's lead to seven, 26-19, with 5:48 remaining in the quarter. Eight unanswered points quickly pushed the Dragons' lead back into double digits before Huinker could stop the run. Huinker added another jumper with a little more than a minute remaining, but the damage was done and a Sannes layup before the buzzer gave MSU Moorhead a 39-23 lead at the break.
 
The lead remained at 16 points after the third quarter, but not before the Cougars made several attempts to draw closer. Thramer and Hummel combined for five quick points to open the second half before Huinker and Thramer capped off an 8-2 run with consecutive jumpers. Their deficit down to nine, Hummel answered a pair of MSUM free throws with a layup to bring the Cougars within 43-34, but that would be the last time the Cougars saw a single-digit deficit as the Dragons closed on a 10-3 run with Huinker hitting a jumper and Moira Duffy a free throw for USF's only points over the final six minutes of the period.
 
Threatened with losing back-to-back games for the second time this season, USF put together an early run in the fourth quarter and outscored MSUM in the final frame. Thramer started the Cougars' quarter-opening 9-0 run with a pair of free throws before Duffy followed with a blocked shot and layup. Huinker hit a layup then Hummel completed the run with her fourth 3-pointer of the game. The Dragons scored four straight before Hummel knocked in her fifth triple of the night and USF trailed 57-49 with five minutes remaining.
 
Jumpers by Thramer and Szymanski answered MSUM baskets to bring the lead back down to nine points, but the clocked had dropped below three minutes when two Dragon free throws pushed the lead back to 11. Thramer reached double digits for the third time this year with a jumper at 1:13 to cut the Sioux Falls deficit again to nine points. MSU Moorhead made sure their lead would hold by hitting five of six free throw attempts in the final 73 seconds and Andi Mataloni's late 3-pointer brought the final score to 69-58.
 
The Cougars return to Sioux Falls next weekend where they will host University of Mary and Minot State in their final cross-division games of the regular season on Feb. 2 and 3.