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The Peacock Women’s Basketball team welcomed the Mustangs of Mount Mercy College to Dorman Gymnasium on Tuesday night, the 5th, for a non-conference match up of in-state foes. The Peacocks took advantage of a twelve point lead at the break and held on with 5 of 6 shooting at the free throw line in the final minute to take the victory 66-56. Upper Iowa’s record improved to 5-2 overall with the win, while Mount Mercy’s record dropped to 3-2.
Both teams found it hard to remove the lids on the baskets as they were only able to manage a single point each during the first three minutes, but an old-fashioned three-point play by Sara Best got the offense started for the home team. Upper Iowa went on a 9-3 run after Best’s score to push the lead out to nine points, 13-4, with 12:44 on the clock. Over the next four minutes, the Mustangs and Peacocks battled evenly, but Mount Mercy mounted a run of their own (8-1) to get to within three points of the home team. UIU’s defense began to refocus and the offense started to pick up speed again. The Peacocks used a 16-7 run to finish the final six minutes of the half and take a 35-23 lead into the locker room. Katie Reihmann, 3 three-pointers, and Chelsea Peterson, 2 field goals and 2 free throws, led the Upper Iowa run to close out the half. UIU shot 46% from the field while hitting 7 of 10 free throws and grabbing 23 rebounds, while Mt. Mercy shot 28% from the field and only hitting 7 of 14 free throws and grabbing 13 boards. The Mustangs slowly chipped away at the lead over the first five minutes of the second half. After a lay up by the visitors cut the lead to 40-37, Coach Ben Conrad had seen enough and wanted to get his team back on track with a timeout. Within two and a half minutes, the Peacocks had pushed the lead back to eleven thanks to a 9-1 run that featured scores from four different Peacocks. The home team’s offense hit a snag as foul trouble began to mount and the Mustangs took advantage and rallied back to a three-point deficit (57-54) with 4:20 on the clock. During a Mustang timeout, Conrad made his final substitutions of the night to put his best defenders on the floor. The Peacock defense turned it up a notch and held the Mustangs to just two points over the final four minutes, while converting on two lay ups and five of six free throws to take the victory 66-56. Andrea Downs led three Peacocks in double figures with 12 points, while Reihmann and Sara Best each scored 10. Peterson, Amanda Faas, Christa Hammel, and Ashley Martin all netted 8 for the home team. Faas led the team in rebounding with 10, while Peterson and Hammel each grabbed 6 and Sara Best collected 5. Faas and Best dished out 4 and 3 assists, respectively. The team shot 44% for the game and 72% from the line while hauling in 43 rebounds. The Mustangs were led by Dani Anderson (17 points), Jenni Baker (9 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists), and Katie Smith (9 points and 3 assists). The visitors shot 35% for the game and 54% at the line while grabbing 30 rebounds. After the game Conrad stated, “I thought we started the game defending extremely well. I’m not sure if they had much more than a field goal the first nine minutes of the game. We had a little let down in the second half and it got interesting. Mt Mercy is a very experienced and tough-minded team. I really like their team. Sarah Best sparked us early and again, Andrea Downs was key for us.” The Peacocks will return to action on Saturday, December 9th, for a Northern Sun Conference game versus Winona State University. Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m. with the men’s game to follow. |
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