Photo by Samantha Davis. Southwest Minnesota State University's Peyton Blandin sets up the offense in the second half against University of Minnesota Crookston Saturday night at the R/A Facility in Marshall. Blandin finished with 14 points in the Mustangs' 88-74 comeback victory.

MARSHALL — Facing early adversity and fighting back through a resilient team effort, the No. 17 Southwest Minnesota State University womens basketball team overcame a 15-point deficit for a 88-74 win against University of Minnesota Crookston on Saturday for senior night. Four Mustangs finished in double-digits led by Bri Stoltzman’s 23 points.

SMSU found itself down 22-7 to start the game, but after finding its tempo and getting shots to fall, the Mustangs took a lead in the third quarter and grew it throughout the fourth to celebrate its seniors with a hard-earned victory.

“I think we learned that we can be special and we are special. If we keep going and fight, we can pull out a win and we can pull out at the end of games,” Stoltzman said. “We struggled early on, which is OK. Basketball is a game of ups-and-downs, so it’s fun to have to get back into it. It wasn’t the best start, but we definitely picked it up at the end and finished well.”

To pair with Stoltzman, who also dished a game-high eight assists, Audrey Swanson finished with a 19-point, 15 rebound double-double. Natalie Nielsen followed with 16 points on 8 of 11 field goal shooting with nine rebounds, and Peyton Blandin tallied another 14 points.

The Mustangs finished the night with a 49% field goal shooting mark, and 30% from the 3-point line. The Golden Eagles shot at 46-36% marks.

“This team is just so competitive. I mean, they just attack and attack. They never give up,” Stoltzman said. “It’s just a team effort. I know that it takes a team to win, so we really just came together tonight to get this win.”

Stoltzman, Blandin and Kenzie Jones all played at SMSU’s R/A Facility for the final time in their collegiate careers Saturday, portraying a bittersweet moment for the seniors but left quite the statement for the Mustangs’ 16th straight victory.

SMSU’s current 16-game win streak is the second longest in program history, following 20 straight wins in the 2001-02 season.

Stoltzman is a native of Mankato, and currently leads SMSU with 20.9 points per game, field goals made (200), assists (106) and steals (52). She’s missed just one game this season due to an injury.

Blandin, from Farmington, has started every game this season and is the team’s second leading scorer with 14.9 points per game. She also leads the Mustangs with 61 3-pointers.

Jones is originally from Willmar, and has appeared in all games but one this season. She currently averages 6.3 points and 2.2 rebounds a game.

“It’s been a journey … I look at Kenzie and Peyton and I wouldn’t change it for the world. They’re my best friends,” Stoltzman said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without them. It’s going to be a different year next year, but it’s just fun to be out here and enjoying the journey. It was sad playing on this court for the last time ever, which is crazy to say, but it went fast and it was fun. I’d do it all again if I could.”

UMC came out on a mission to pressure the red-hot Mustangs. The Golden Eagles’ largest lead was at 22-7 in the first quarter, and they had 8 points off of four SMSU turnovers in the first half, to the Mustangs’ zero points off turnovers.

“We couldn’t find our rhythm offensively … We just struggled a little bit offensively, and then that carried over to our defensive side, where we weren’t defending quite how we wanted to,” SMSU head coach Tom Webb said.

In the first half, SMSU shot 43% from the field and made 2 of 4 free throws, to UMC’s 48% outing and 8 of 9 shots from the foul line.

“They’re [UMC] just a tough team. We knew that they were going to come out right out the gates hot,” Stoltzman said. “They love to battle early, so we know we said to stick with it and run them out in the fourth quarter.”

The Mustangs’ needed to find an answer to slow down UMC’s Emma Miller, who finished with a game-high 41 points behind six 3-pointers.

Facing a 43-41 halftime deficit after climbing back from down 15 points, Swanson tied the game up with a jump shot from a Stoltzman assist to open the second half.

“Webb always has good pregame, post game, middle of games speeches … He believes in us, and that’s what he told us in there [at halftime],” Stoltzman said. “He just said to be us, and be who you are. He always says that we’re good enough as we are.”

Swanson hit a 3 after a Stoltzman jump shot to give SMSU a 50-48 lead. Swanson also collected a game-high four steals.

Stoltzman began to heat up, drawing an offensive charge, hitting the midrange jumper and collecting a steal on consecutive plays with two minutes to go in the third quarter. She also had 20 second-half points.

The R/A Facility grew immensely loud in support as SMSU went on a short run as the quarter wrapped up to grab its largest lead of the night.

“This community is so awesome. I really mean it when I say this, but the people make the place … They’re just the best people in the world, and I love them all,” Stoltzman said. “I wouldn’t change the community for anything.”

Swanson grabbed a steal off a UMC inbound play and made the fast break layup, followed by a Swanson defensive rebound which resulted in a Nielsen layup to put the Mustangs up 67-60 going into the final frame.

Swanson is currently the team’s leading rebounder with 9.4 a game.

A Stoltzman layup and another midrange jump shot gave SMSU a double-digit lead, 73-63.

The Golden Eagles didn’t let up on their fight, and stayed within reach.

Stoltzman got the ball at the top of the key and hesitated with a step to the left to sink the 3-pointer, and Swanson continued to come up big with another offensive rebound and putback to give SMSU an 82-70 edge with just under four minutes of game to go.

“For 25 games, we’ve shown that we’re pretty good,” Webb said. “So, let’s just stay with that and not get too worked up, and they understood that. They came out in the second half, and they got it going.”

The Mustangs secured its rally back in good fashion, while Stoltzman, Jones and Blandin were all subbed out for the final time on their home court and received a large applause from the crowd, hugging their teammates down the line on the bench.

“Yeah, they’ve done a phenomenal job of moving us to the next level, and helping us grow,” Webb said. “Their leadership, their commitment, they just continue to work every day to be better and better. They’re going to be missed.”

To start the game, the Golden Eagles quickly jumped to a 16-6 advantage as SMSU fought its shooting struggles early on.

But, the Mustangs played catch-up and began to come back in the second quarter to eventually tie the score up at 33.

Back-to-back 3’s from Swanson and Jones got the Mustangs’ bench and crowd amplified with excitement in the midst of the comeback.

Blandin herself sank two straight 3-pointers as the half was winding down, while UMC hit a trio of free throws after being fouled at the arc, as SMSU went into the locker room down by two points.

“It’s been good for us to be put in these situations. There’s a little stress, a little tension, not everything’s going perfect. How do you battle back and how do you respond?,” Webb said. “They’ve done a good job of just staying with it, and shows that they have belief in themselves. I think their hearts are really big, and it’s fun to watch.”

SMSU (24-2, 18-2 NSIC) remains in first place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference standings, tied with Concordia-St. Paul. The Mustangs have also secured a first-round bye into the NSIC Tournament, which will begin on March 1 in Sioux Falls at Sanford Pentagon.

The Mustangs have two final regular season games left, and will next hit the road to Bismarck, N.D., to face UMary on Friday at 7:30 p.m.