Duluth, Minn. --- The Minnesota State women's basketball team fell to the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, 69-58, Friday night at the Romano Gymnasium.
 
With the loss, the Mavericks fall to 9-6 (6-5 NSIC), while the Bulldogs improve to 13-4 (10-1 NSIC).
 
Points were hard to come by in the opening quarter as both teams struggled to maintain possession of the ball and get shots to go through, but the Bulldogs ultimately came out of the quarter with a 13-9 edge.

The Mavericks started the second quarter with a 4-0 run to tie the game at 13 in the opening minute before UMD responded with a 6-0 run of their own.  In the final second of the first half, the Bulldogs led by six points when Kirstin Klitzke found Anna Wanek in the right corner for a three-pointer to cut the UMD lead to 27-24 going into the half. 

Taylor Drost led the Mavericks in scoring in the first half with six points while Kristi Fett recorded four points and seven rebounds.  As a team the MSU held the rebounding edge 27-20 and held the advantage in bench scoring 10-4.

The Bulldogs drained several threes in the opening minutes of the third quarter and despite the Mavericks collecting six early points, UMD extended its lead to 40-30 with 7:09 to go in the quarter. The teams would trade baskets for the remainder of the quarter and the Bulldogs took a 50-38 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Mavericks cut the Bulldog lead to 10 points a couple of times early in the quarter but weren't able to break through the double-digit barrier, ultimately falling by a final of 69-58.

Fett finished the game with a team leading 12-points to go along with 10 rebounds to record a double double while Klitzke finished the night with 11-points.  As a team, the Mavericks outrebounded the Bulldogs 43-32 while the bench scored 27-points compared to 11 from UMD
 
Minnesota State will continue its road trip tomorrow as the team will take on the St. Cloud State Huskies with tip-off scheduled for 3:30 p.m.