FAYETTE, Iowa – Holding off a late charge, University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball earned a 60-46 win at Upper Iowa on Friday night. Kaely Hummel scored 23 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter, to help the Cougars avoid a three-game losing streak and move to 9-4 on the season with a 6-3 record in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
 
Led by her fourth-quarter scoring flurry, Hummel surpassed 20 points for the fifth time this season and has now scored in double figures all 13 games this year. With only five players scoring for USF, Andi Mataloni and Mariah Szymanski both came up big with double-digit efforts as well. Mataloni broke out of a shooting slump and hit four 3-pointers to score a season-best 14 points. Szymanski added 12 points, scoring nine in the first half to help USF build their lead.
 
Do-it-all junior forward Jacey Huinker scored six points but was big everywhere else on the stat sheet. The Altoona, Iowa native added a game-high 12 rebounds, her seventh double-digit rebounding performance of the season, while tacking on three assists, three steals and a block.
 
The Cougars held an 18-point edge just after halftime after Szymanski knocked in a 3-pointer of the game and they maintained a double-digit lead entering the fourth quarter. The Peacocks (2-12, 0-9 NSIC) used a steady dose of Angelica De Paulo, who finished with 21 points to lead UIU, in the fourth quarter to cut USF's lead down to five points before Hummel's late-game scoring surge preserved USF's victory.
 
A sluggish start to the first quarter kept the game tight as it was tied 9-9 through the first 10 minutes of action. Szymanski led the Cougars with five points, hitting a Lauren Sanders-assisted layup then connecting on a 3-pointer off Huinker's pass for the final USF points of the quarter.
 
Szymanski sparked a six-point run to open the second quarter, hitting a layup for her seventh straight point. Hummel and Huinker both followed with layups to give the Cougars a 15-9 lead before the Peacocks would score in the second period. In the final seven minutes of the first half, USF's defense tightened and their offense helped build a double-digit lead. Hummel answered UIU's 3-pointer with a layup off Taylor Volesky's steal and assist. Augusta Thramer got on the board, using one of Huinker's two first-half steals and assists to score on the fast break for a six-point cushion.
 
The Peacocks cut into USF's lead with two straight baskets, but USF's defense held the home team scoreless for the final six minutes of the quarter. Mataloni, who earned her fifth start of the season, knocked down a 3-pointer and the trio of Hummel, Szymasnki and Huinker each converted a layup to keep USF rolling. In the final minute, Mataloni drilled her second three of the quarter, both coming off Thramer assists, and USF entered halftime with a 31-16 lead.
 
The Cougars nursed their double-digit lead in the second half, but Upper Iowa was able to chip away at their lead. Following Szymanski's three-point shot that gave the Cougars their leargest lead (18 points), each team traded baskets in the middle of the frame. Mataloni answered UIU's advances with a jumper then her third 3-pointer of the game to keep the Cougars up 15 points, 40-25. Hummel's jumper in the final minute of the third period brought the score to 42-28 with 10 minutes to play.
 
Hummel was the only Cougar to score in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, but her foul line jumper and 3-pointer was able to break up Upper Iowa's scoring spree. De Paulo scored seven straight for UIU and Ashley Rosentiel capped off 9-2 run for the Peacocks with two layups to bring them within five points, 47-42, of USF.
 
However, USF's leading scorer Hummel took the final five minutes over with seven points to help USF close out the game. Thramer stopped UIU's run with a layup and Hummel followed for a nine-point USF edge with just less than three minutes to play. Hummel connected on two more lay-ins to keep the Cougars comfortably on top before Mataloni sank her fourth 3-pointer of the night for a 13-point edge. Hummel closed the game with a free throw to reach 23 points and give USF the final edge, 60-46.
 
Sioux Falls now heads to Winona, Minn. to face Winona State on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 4 p.m. The Cougars handed WSU their only loss of the season on Dec. 1 with a 61-60 victory.