Jan. 19, 2001

Northern State tried but couldn't rebound from a horrendous start offensively in a 70-84 loss to Winona State Friday night in Aberdeen.

It took NSU (9-6 overall, 5-2 NSIC) five minutes to score its first points, and by the time the team broke out of its offensive doldroms, the score read 7-28 with eight minutes remaining in the first half. NSU clawed back to within striking distance by halftime at 30-42.

In the second half, the Warriors (7-9, 3-5 NSIC) hit enough big shots to keep the Wolves at bay. NSU made numerous runs to cut the lead to single digits, coming as close as five points, but WSU always answered with clutch shots down the stretch.

The Wolves were led by senior forward Natalie Braun's (Warner, S.D.) 14 points and eight rebounds. NSU received great output from its power forwards on the night, as Braun's backup Shanna Dahl (junior, St. Cloud, Minn.) scored 12 points and pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds. Senior post Jennifer Murphy (Aberdeen) rounded out NSU's double-digit performers with 12 points of her own to go with nine rebounds. As a team, the Wolves never found the mark offensively, hitting on just 33 percent of their shots for the game and just 25 percent (5-of-20) from 3-point range. WSU hit 12 treys on the night and shot 41 percent from downtown to go with 40 percent as a whole from the field. Nicole Reisner led WSU with 24 points, while the NSIC's leading rebounded in Amanda Brown posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards.

NSU will try to get out of the gates faster and get back on track with a win tomorrow night against Concordia-St. Paul. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 p.m. in NSU's Barnett Center.