Photo by Samantha Davis. The Southwest Minnesota State University womens basketball team bench celebrates after Bri Stoltzman made a layup and a drew a foul in the third quarter against the University of Mary Saturday night at the R/A Facility. The Mustangs collected 23 points off turnovers to influence the 77-68 win.

MARSHALL — Four Mustangs finished in double digits to lead the No. 23 Southwest Minnesota State University womens basketball team past the University of Mary 77-68 in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game Saturday afternoon. The win marks eight straight for SMSU, who are currently tied for second place in conference with Concordia-St. Paul, behind Minnesota State in first.

“We made tough plays down the stretch, which is great,” SMSU head coach Tom Webb said. “We got tougher and tougher, and we needed to be. They’re [UMary] a tough, physical team. They’re aggressive, they play hard, they compete for 40 [minutes]. It was a good weekend for us.”

SMSU collected 23 points off 18 forced UMary turnovers, including 12 steals, to help solidify its win. With an 8-point halftime edge, the Mustangs held their lead throughout the second half, but the score remained within reach the entire night. They pulled away in the final two minutes with breaking a press and effective shooting to seal the game.

“It was definitely a physical game tonight … We stuck together,” forward Audrey Swanson said. “We felt like we were down 15 the whole game, but it gave us a little bit of edge feeling like we are down by a little bit to keep pushing.”

SMSU overall shot 40% from the field, 33% from the perimeter and 86% from the free throw line. UMary shot at 41-20-80% marks. The Mustangs also had 24 points in both the second and third quarters, the largest amount in a quarter by both teams through the night.

Bri Stoltzman finished with a team-high 22 points, four steals and five assists. She came off a historic performance finishing with 41 points in SMSU’s 82-72 Friday night win over Northern State, and was the first Mustang since 2004 to reach the 40-point mark.

Swanson followed with 21 points and a team-high 8 rebounds with three steals. Peyton Blandin tallied 13 points, and Nicole Maenke finished with 10.

“We are a very deep team. It’s nice to have a lot of support on the bench. People can come in and play to score, play defense,” Swanson said.

The Mustangs entered the second half up 35-27, and were looking to find more of their offensive rhythm. SMSU had solid defense, and didn’t allow any UMary 3-pointers the entire first half. It also had 7 fast break points and eight steals, to the Marauders’ 0 fast breaks and five steals.

“We really focus on pushing the ball once we get a turnover,” Swanson said. “We take off for the basket and keep running.”

SMSU was able to break away toward the end of the third quarter, although starting it with a pair of turnovers.

UMary came within a point 39-38 after sinking a 3, but Stoltzman responded on the other end with her own offensive put back to take the lead back.

Natalie Nielsen made a layup to give the Mustangs a 4-point edge with three to go in the third quarter, but UMary hit another shot from deep to bring the score back within a point, 52-51.

In the final minute of the third, Stoltzman took the ball up the court and was eyeing the rim while taking on her defender. A shot fake and jab step to her left resulted in a 3-pointer from the top of the key to bring SMSU up 59-51 going into the final frame.

“We talked about it as a 0-0 score. It’s 0-0, let’s go out and let’s have some fun,” Swanson said.

Swanson opened the final 10 minutes with a 3-pointer to create an 11-point lead, SMSU’s largest of the game.

The Marauders continued to chip away, and brought the game back within 2 points with just four minutes of game left, 66-64.

Both coaches showed frustration with a handful of calls through the second half, and UMary’s Rick Neumann was assessed a technical with 2:53 left after exchanging words with an official.

The technical call gave SMSU two free throws, which Stoltzman made both of, and the possession after to which Maenke drilled in a crucial 3-pointer to put SMSU up 73-66.

The Marauders played a full-court press in the final minute and a half. Swanson was able to break through for a layup after receiving the ball at the wing, and UMary resulted to fouling to put SMSU at the free throw line until game’s end.

“We’re pretty good when it’s a live ball turnover … We just got to get more of them,” Webb said. “We don’t always get them, and when we do, we capitalize. We’re aggressive, attack the rim and see what happens.”

The first half quickly showed the game was bound to be a close one. UMary had a 1-point advantage after the first quarter, but the half ended with SMSU up by 8 after Maenke went 4 for 4 from the charity stripe.

SMSU was scoreless to begin the game until nearly four minutes in, when Swanson hit a free throw after being fouled on a shot attempt. She followed that up with a layup to tie the early game up at 3.

Swanson led with 10 first half points.

A 3-pointer from Blandin gave the Mustangs the edge, and Swanson added in another 3 to try to get some offensive momentum going.

The half continued to go back and forth, and came to be tied at 25 with just over two minutes to go.

The Mustangs’ defense started to shine to give them a few more offensive opportunities as the half was winding down.

A drive and spin move inside the lane from Blandin resulted in a layup, and Maenke drew an offensive foul on the other end to give SMSU the ball back.

Maenke was fouled on a shot and made both free throws, and Stoltzman grabbed a steal to shut out the Marauders again.

“That’s the main thing we work on. Our defense has been really helping us a lot these games,” Swanson said. “This was a big win for us.”

Maenke again was fouled, and sank her two free throws to build up SMSU’s half time advantage.

SMSU improves to 16-2 and 10-2 in conference play, and will look to make it nine straight wins when it next hits the road to face Bemidji (4-12, 2-10) on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

“We just have to stay confident,” Swanson said. “Sometimes, our confidence goes down a little bit, but we work together to keep each other’s heads up.”