DULUTH — Peyton Blandin and Bri Stoltzman combined for 50 points on Wednesday night as the Southwest Minnesota State University womens basketball team pulled away for an 89-63 road win over Minnesota Duluth. The win was the Mustangs’ 13th in a row as they step into standalone first place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference for the time being.

Blandin’s 23 points in the game were tied for the second-highest mark of her career behind a 27-point outing against Wayne State on Nov. 26. Blandin shot 7 of 14 from the field and a blazing hot 5 of 7 from beyond the arc in the win.

Stoltzman also had a hot hand, scoring 27 points on 12 of 19 shooting.

Audrey Swanson continued to be impactful on the boards for SMSU’ grabbing a game-high 10 rebounds with 19 points for her 10th double-double of the season. Her glass-cleaning efforts led SMSU to a 40-30 rebounding advantage and an 8-0 edge in second-chance points. Stoltzman and Blandin also added seven and six rebounds respectively.

The Mustangs scored each of the game’s first 6 points and pushed their lead to double digits before settling for a 20-11 lead after the first quarter. Minnesota Duluth eventually surged back into the game, with a 3 from Myra Moorjani giving the Bulldogs a 33-32 lead, but a Brynn Bussy free throw and a Stoltzman jumper gave SMSU a 35-33 lead at the half.

After the break, SMSU quickly extended its lead to 45-35 within two-and-a-half minutes. The gap continued to expand as a 3-pointer from Nicole Maenke gave SMSU a 67-49 lead through three quarters before eventually holding on for the win.

SMSU shot 49% from the field and 8 of 16 from 3-point range in the game while Minnesota Duluth shot 49% from the field and 5 of 9 from 3-point range.

The difference, however, was SMSU’s defense. The Mustangs coughed up the ball 10 times to Minnesota Duluth’s 10, resulting in a 22-6 advantage in points off turnovers. Blandin came away with three steals while Stoltzman, Busse, Maenke and Natalie Nielsen added another two each.

SMSU improves to 22-2 with the win (15-2 NSIC) and next hosts Winona State (9-14, 5-12) for Tropical Night on Saturday at 7 p.m.