WINONA, Minn. (McGown Gymnasium) -- The Bemidji State University women's basketball team went 6:23 in the second half without recording a field goal Saturday, watching a seven-point lead turn into a 10-point deficit as its hopes of hosting a first round Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament game slip away.
Winona State University went go on to win the final regular season contest of the 2006-07 season, 71-64, at McGown Gymnasium in Winona.
The Warriors shot 58.3 percent in the final frame (14-24), including a 6-of-13 (.462) effort from beyond the three-point line en route to out scoring BSU 42-26 and erasing a nine-point first half deficit.
The Warriors stretched their lead to as many as 13 and successfully held off a late BSU run to gain the victory and finish the season 15-11 overall and tied with Wayne State College for fourth place in the NSIC standings at 11-7 in conference play.
Junior point guard Amy Lawson led the way for BSU, scoring 21 points on 7-of-16 from the field while hauling in a pair of rebounds, dishing out four assists and swiping a game-high three steals.
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Stephanie Peterson recorded her first double-double since Jan. 27 at Wayne State with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Kate Bremmer and Heidi Matzke also totaled double-figure point totals with 12 and 11 respectively.
The Warriors were led by a 21-point, game-high 12-rebound effort from Amanda Reimer who was 5-of-11 from the field and 10-of-11 from the free-throw line.
Anna Wurtz added 16 points for WSU in the win.
The teams felt each other out in the game's opening minutes but when Bremmer converted an old fashioned three-point play 5:30 into the game. She put BSU in the lead and sparked a 17-4 run by the Beavers to put BSU in front by 10 with 8:29 left in the half.
Bemidji State stretched its lead to 13 twice before heading to the locker rooms owning a 38-29 advantage.
The Warriors came out of the break to slowly chip away at the BSU lead.
By the 13-minute mark, WSU had whittled its deficit to just one point after scoring six straight points.
With its opponent just one point back, BSU went cold. The team would hit just four field goals during the final 12 minutes of the contest, but the Beavers would not go away easily.
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The team found itself down by 13, 65-52, with 2:46 to play, but would score the next 10 points to cut the Warriors' lead to 65-62 with a minute to play. WSU would go 4-or-4 from the line in the game's final moments, however, to hold off the BSU comeback.
BSU is now 37-23 in the all-time series with Winona State.
At 14-13 overall and 9-9 in NSIC play, the Beavers finish the regular season in sole possession of seventh place. The team will enter next week's NSIC Red Baron Basketball Classic as the No. 6 seed due to the ineligibility of the University of Mary to participate in NCAA post season events as the team is in a transition to NCAA Division II.
BSU will now hit the road to battle No. 3 Northern State (19-8; 12-6 NSIC) in a 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Barnett Center in Aberdeen, S.D.
Winona State 71, BSU 64
Halftime: BSU 38, WSU 29
Bemidji State: Nancy McConkey 1-6 0-0 1 2, Stephanie Peterson 7-16 0-0 3 14, Heidi Matzke 4-9 2-2 3 11, Kate Bremmer 5-7 1-1 4 12, Amy Lawson 7-16 6-7 2 21, Bridget Smith 0-1 0-0 0 0, Colleen Boell 0-3 0-0 0 0, Melissa Roberts 2-2 0-0 2 4, Jenny Wenlund 0-0 0-0 0 0
Winona State: Amanda Reimer 5-11 10-11 1 21, Kayleigh Lutz 1-3 2-2 2 3, Jamie Majerowicz 1-4 3-4 4 5, Molly Anderson 3-7 3-4 3 11, Shelby Krueger 5-11 0-0 1 12, Nikki Fleck 0-4 0-0 1 0, Bonnie Bjorke 1-1 0-0 1 2, Anna Wurtz 6-8 0-0 0 16
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Three point goals -- BSU 3-11 (Matzke, Bremmer, Lawson), WSU 9-25 (Wurtz 4, Anderson 2, Kruefger 2, Reimer). Rebounds -- BSU 30 (Peterson 10), WSU 32 (Reimer 12).
Assists -- BSU 19 (McConkey, Peterson, Lawson 4). Personal Fouls -- BSU 17, WSU 14. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none. A -- 223
