The Winona State Warriors women's basketball team has been battle tested this season, and it showed in their gritty 82-77 victory over MSU-Moorhead in the first round of the NSIC tournament Wednesday night.

With the win the Warriors move to 17-10 on the year while MSU-Moorhead finishes their season at 17-13.

Taylor Hustad hit 13 of her 18 shots from the floor to score a career high 32 points in the win.

Heading into the final quarter down 62-46 the Dragons would outscore the Warriors 19-6 to open the final frame and cut the deficit to three with just four minutes left on the clock. The game was back and forth from there, with Sydney Lodermeier and Taylor Hustad scoring the next seven Warriors points. The lead was still at three with just one minute remaining before four straight free throws by Lodermeier and Alex Dornfeld put the Dragons away for good.

Winona state hit 17 free throws in the contest, their third highest output of the season.

It was the Taylor Hustad (9) and Caitlin Riley (8) show in the first quarter as they combined to score 17 of the Warriors 19 points in the frame. Hustad hit four shots in the opening quarter while Riley had a stretch of eight straight points to keep the Warriors in it. The game was tied 19-19 after one.

The Warriors started to take control in the second quarter, outscoring the Dragons to go into the break leading 23-14. Winona State went 9-12 in the period while holding MSU-Moorhead to just 5-16 shooting. With the game still close, Emily Kieck and Allie Pickrain hit back-to-back threes before an Emma Fee layup gave the Warriors their largest lead of the day at 12 with 4:32 left in the half. The teams traded three pointers in the final seconds of the half and the Warriors would go into the break leading 42-33.

Winona State hit seven threes on the day coming off the hands of five different people.

The Dragons got as close as five in the third quarter before an and-1 by Lodermeier and a layup by Dornfeld extended the Warrior lead back to a comfortable 10 points midway through the frame. Hustad would score the Warriors final eight points of the quarter to extend the WSU lead to 16 at the end of three.

The Warrors shot 53.7% from the floor in the win while holding MSU-Moorhead to just 44% shooting. Points in the paint were a key factor for Winona State as they outscore the Dragons 40-24 in that category.

Kieck and Riley both contributed 13 points in the win while Dornfeld pulled down seven boards to go along with her five points.

The Warriors will now travel to the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. for a matchup with the #1 seeded Sioux Falls Cougars in the NSIC playoffs second round. The game will take place on Sunday, March 1 and tip-off is slated for 5:30 p.m.