WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Bemidji State no match for Winona

WINONA, Minn. – Winona State’s hot 3-point shooting sunk the Bemidji State women in their Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game.

The Warriors (13-5, 8-2 NSIC) shot 12-for-22 (54.5 percent) from long range, while the Beavers (7-8, 3-8 NSIC) shot just 14-for-52 (26.9 percent) from the field and 4-of-13 (30.8 percent) from 3-point land.

Junior Morgan Lee led the Beavers with 11 points on a night where BSU couldn’t seem to get its offense clicking at all.

The first half didn’t start out very well for the Beavers who quickly trailed the Warriors 3-0 in the first two minutes.

A layup by WSU was answered by one from Kate Warmack with 18 minutes left in the first half bringing the score to 5-2. A 3-pointer by Lee broke the Beavers’ 3:35 scoreless streak and put the road team down 12-5.

With 11:31 left on the clock a foul on Winona State gave Lanae Rash two free throws BSU needed to bring the deficit down to single digits, 18-9.

This would be the closest the Beavers would get to the Warriors during the first half.

The Warriors went on a 23-11 to close out the half and went into the locker room up 41-20.

In the second half the Beavers had similar struggles, scoring just 21 points in the half as the Warriors cruised to a 37-21 second half.

Winona’s Becca Friestleben led all scorers with 31 points, including 11-for-17 from the field and 9-of-13 from 3-point range.

Michelle Tobin added 15 points and Abby Busch scored 14 for WSU.

Lee was the only Beavers player in double figured with 11. Kate Waramack had right points.

The Beavers travel to Fayette, Iowa, tonight, where they’ll take on Upper Iowa at 6 p.m.

Bemidji State (41) – Lee 3-11 2-2 11; Warmack 4-8 0-0 8; Rash 2-11 2-2 6; Kaus 2-5 1-1 5; Althoff 1-4 2-2 4; McKee 1-3 0-0 3; Wessling 1-3 1-4 3; Youngblut 0-3 1-2 1; Thompson 0-1 0-0 0; Koss 0-1 0-0 0; Schmidt 0-0 0-0 0; Valley 0-1 0-0 0; Carlson 0-1 0-0 0; Reichert 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-52 9-13 41.

Winona State (78) – Friestleben 11-17 0-0 31; Tobin 7-11 1-2 15; Busch 3-6 7-8 14; Hartman 2-6 2-2 6; Andrist 1-3 2-3 4; Dulas 1-4 0-0 3; Wolff 1-4 0-0 3; Wells 1-1 0-0 2; Nagle 0-0 0-0 0; Passint 0-0 0-0 0; Hocking 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-53 12-15 78.

Halftime Score – Winona State 41, Bemidji State 20

3-point goals – BSU 4-13 (Lee 3-8; McKee 1-2; Youngblut 0-2; Thompson 0-1), WSU 12-22 (Friestleben 9-13; Wolff 1-4; Dulas 1-3; Busch 1-1; Andrist 0-1).