MINOT, N.D. - The University of Mary Women's Basketball team had one more task before they could close the door on the 2014 calendar year, and they gave themselves an early Christmas present as they defeated Minot State University 68-66 in a battle decided by free throws.
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Brittney Dietz returned to form with 21 points, four steals and five rebounds;
Hannah Larson swatted away four shots in addition to her eight points and four rebounds; and
Dani Williams provided a spark off the bench with 11 points of her own as the Marauders accomplished the season sweep against their rivals from the north.
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The first half was a sort of seesaw as the lead changed from eight points in favor of the Beavers to 13 in favor of the Marauders and back to three for the Beavers. U-Mary held an early lead in the first two minutes of the game, but Minot State rattled off 10 straight points to jump ahead 12-5 before the first media break of the half.
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The Marauders responded in kind with a staggering 22-2 run and held a 27-14 advantage on the Beavers by the second media break. This time, however, the Beavers pulled of a similarly big run as they scored 19 of the next 24 points and retook the lead 33-32 with 3:02 left in the half. The Marauders were held to one basket in the last 5:26 of the half and Minot held the lead at 37-34 going into halftime.
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Despite the large shift in lead changes, the Marauders still show 42 percent from the field including 5-for-9 from beyond the arc and a perfect 5-for-5 from the line.
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The second half was a different story.
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The Marauders regained the lead with 17:10 thanks to two free throws from Dietz, but the Beavers stubbornly fought back and held a 45-44 advantage after the first media break. U-Mary tied the score at 45 apiece with 13:23 left in the half and it was the first of eight ties that would span the remainder of the game. Neither school could get the upper hand and the largest lead was owned by Minot State at 64-59 with 5:25 remaining.
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The Marauders struggled to find shots that fell into the net as they went 9-for-25 from the field in the second half. However, they did have 19 free throw attempts to Minot State's eight and U-Mary needed every last shot from the stripe to stay in the game.
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A Marauder getting to the line thwarted every lead that Minot built up;
Gabby Wilkinson forced a tie at 7:23 thanks to two free throws, Dietz and Larson netted two shots from the line to keep Minot from getting away with five minutes remaining, and Wilkinson got to the line and subsequently got a 65-64 lead with 4:19 left on the clock.
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A layup from Minot State put the lead back in their favor at 66-65 with 1:26 remaining, but the Marauders took the inbound on the next possession, found
Sloan Turner on the interior, and the resulting layup gave U-Mary a 67-66 lead with 1:12 left in the game.
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Dietz made one more free throw with 22 seconds left on the clock and the Beavers missed the tying layup and the go-ahead three-pointer in the waning seconds. The final score was 68-66.
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The Marauders shot 16-for-19 from the charity stripe in the second half to Minot State's 6-for-8. U-Mary also stole the ball nine times as a team and continues to lead the Northern Sun in team blocks per game with an additional five tonight.
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Dietz's 21 points came on 6-for-12 shooting; she also dished out three assists and finished 8-for-10 from the free throw line.
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Dani Williams' shooting performance was perfect in every aspect as she shot 4-for-4 from the field, 2-for-2 from long range, and made her only free throw attempt.
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Turner netted 10 points of her own along with four rebounds in 17 minutes on the floor.
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The Marauders (6-6, 4-2 NSIC) are off next week during the holidays and return to action on Friday, January 2, when they travel to Crookston, Minn., to take on University of Minnesota-Crookston.
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