FAYETTE, Iowa – The Winona State University women's basketball team saw
Mattie Schimenz score 20 points on the road at Upper Iowa University, but her effort was one-upped by UIU's Katie Tornstrom whose 30 points led the Peacocks to a 70-63 win over WSU.
Schimenz was a perfect 7-of-7 from the foul line and 6-of-13 from the floor overall but Winona State was unable to break away from an Upper Iowa team that was in search of their first NSIC win.
WSU was within striking distance at the halftime buzzer, down just two at 27-25, and scored first to open the third quarter, with
Alex Dornfeld connecting on a layup to tie the teams at 27-27. Winona State and Upper Iowa battled back-and-forth for much of the third stanza, with the teams tied on four separate occasions.
Unfortunately for the Warriors, the home side started to pull away with 4:45 remaining as Tornstrom scored a pair of free throws to stake Upper Iowa a 43-35 lead, an eight-point advantage that was the largest lead for either team up to that point in the game.
In the fourth quarter, buckets by Dornfeld and
Caitlin Riley drew Winona State to within one point of the hosts at various stages of the final frame, but Winona State was unable to find the sustain the scoring streaks long enough to avoid the upset, eventually losing, 70-63.
WSU won the rebounding battle, owning a ten-board advantage at 49-39, but turnovers plagued the Winona State offense, as UIU scored 18 points from Warrior miscues.
With her 20-point effort,
Mattie Schimenz led WSU in scoring and reached the 20-point plateau in a game for the first time this season.
Caitlin Riley finished with 13 points and
Alex Dornfeld scored 12 points to become the third Warrior in double-digits.
Lauren Fech added nine rebounds to lead Winona State on the glass and handed out a team-leading four assists.
Overall, Winona State was 21-of-59 (35.6%) from the floor and 6-of-25 (24.0%) on 3-point attempts against the Peacocks. WSU hit 15-of-21 (71.4%) free throws and scored 22 points in the point.
For Upper Iowa, the win was the first victory over WSU since Nov. 30, 2013, and moves their record to 1-7 in the NSIC and 5-8 overall. With the loss, Winona State falls to 8-6 on the season and 2-6 in NSIC action.
The Warriors are next in action on Friday, January 6 when they host the University of Minnesota Crookston. Winona State and UMC will tip off at 5:30 p.m. in McCown Gymnasium, home of WNB Financial Court.
