The Bemidji State University women’s basketball team opened a 10-0 lead to start the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference contest between Southwest Minnesota State University Saturday and never looked back, en route to a 77-54 victory to move to 6-11 overall and 5-8 in conference play. Junior Shannon Thompson (G, Rosemount, Minn.) tallied a career-high 25 points for the Beavers, while sophomore Morgan Lee (G, Hayward, Wis.) added 20 points for the first back-to-back 20 point performances of her young career.

The Beavers jumped out to the 10-0 lead with 15:28 left in the first half before the Mustangs got on the board with a pair of free throws. BSU was able to keep SMSU from knocking down a field goal until 13:44 shown on the scoreboard when the Mustangs found a bucket from outside the arc to move the score to 14-5.

Back-to-back Thompson 3-pointers handed BSU a 15 point lead with 12:17 remaining in the frame. The Beaver lead hovered around 15 until a bucket from beyond the arc by the Mustangs with four ticks remaining put the score 36-23 heading into the locker room. Sophomore Kate Warmack (C, East Grand Forks, N.D.) was the team’s leader in points at the break with 11. The Beavers shot 48.1 percent from the field in the frame, while holding SMSU to 30.8 percent.

The Mustangs came out of the half and knocked down a 3-pointer to get them within 10 at 36-26, but the Beavers responded with an amazing 20-0 run during 5:28 of game time to open a 30 point advantage at 56-26. All five BSU starters scored in the run. Lee guided the Beavers with 10 points and Thompson had five.

But the game wasn’t over at that point as SMSU posted a 15-0 run over the next 2:44 of clock time and all of a sudden the disadvantage was a manageable 15 points with more than 11 minutes to go. The poised Beavers didn’t let the Mustang run get them down, as Thompson and Lee took over and got the lead back to 22 at 65-43 with 8:02 remaining in regulation. Sophomore Ellie Wessling (G/F, Winsted Minn.) stopped the run with a jumper, but Thompson (four points) and Lee (three points) finished it.

Southwest Minnesota State got as close as 16 with 3:15 remaining, but it was too much of a mountain to climb and the Beavers went on to the 23 point victory. The Beavers shot 51.1 percent from the field for just their second 50 percent shooting night of the season. The squad knocked down 9-of-17 (52.9%) from beyond the arc and went 20-for-24 (83.3%) from the charity stripe. BSU held the Mustangs to 34.0 percent shooting from the field and forced 19 turnovers.

Thompson shot 54.5 percent from the field, 50 percent from beyond the arc and hit on 9-of-10 free throw attempts, adding five assists in 36 minutes of play. Lee saw 34 minutes of action, shooting 42.9 percent from the field, 66.7 percent from 3-point land and 4-for-4 from the line. Warmack finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds for her third career double-double. Senior Samantha Baldwin (G, St. Thomas, N.D.) played 35 minutes and added nine points, five rebounds and a game-high four steals.
    
The Beavers will take their two-game win streak to the road Jan. 27-28 as they travel to University of Mary and Northern State University for an NSIC Dakota trip.