SMSU Mustangs Jenna Borchers drives to the lane in Tuesday’s afternoon first round of the NSIC playoff tournament against the University of Minnesota-Crookston Golden Eagles

MARSHALL– The Southwest Minnesota State University Mustangs womens basketball team advances to the quarterfinal round of the NSIC tournament with a win over the University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles 83-66 Tuesday afternoon. The Mustangs will now face off against the St.Cloud State Huskies on Sunday afternoon in Sioux Falls.

The Mustangs started strong with guard Jenna Borchers hitting three 3-pointers to start the game pacing the Mustangs to an 11-4 lead and an early Golden Eagles timeout.

The Mustangs continue to pour it on the Golden Eagles hitting seven threes in the first quarter and leading by 16 points, 31-15. The Mustangs shot 61% from the field and forced six turnovers.

In the second quarter, both teams played to a standstill in points and the Mustangs took a 17-point lead into the half, 47-30.

Borchers led the Mustangs at the half with 12 points and Peyton Blandin has 11 points. Bri Stoltzman had 3 points and a team-high five assists at the half.

The Mustangs hit 10 first-half threes and outrebounded the Golden Eagles 17-13 despite their size disadvantage.

Bren Fox for the Golden Eagles led her team in scoring with a game-high 14 points and a team-high five rebounds.

In the opening of the third quarter, the Golden Eagles started to knock down some threes cutting into the deficit but Borchers responded by hitting two of her own And putting the Mustangs in front 59-45, halfway through the third quarter.

The Golden Eagles made a late run and outscored the Mustangs 21-14 in the quarter to cut the deficit to 10 points heading into the fourth, 61-51.

That is the closest the Golden Eagles would get, as the Mustangs would outscore them 22-15 in the final frame.

Borchers finished with a game-high 27 points in her final game as a Mustang playing at the R/A facility. Peyton Blandin had 14 points and five rebounds. Sam Wall had 13 points and four assists on the night. Stoltzman had 9 points, team-high seven rebounds, and a team-high five assists.

“We are super blessed to be playing in the R/A,” Borchers said. “It always helps to have a home game. Went into the game with a lot of confidence which helped me. We know if we lock in on defense and play with each other, it is going to lead to our offense. I think it is great for us to weather the storm early in the tournament because when it comes to later games we will know how to respond as well. It is always great to get a win here as my last one as a Mustang. It has been a long time here, five years, but feels good to have a good game.”

The Mustangs’ defense forced 16 turnovers and only allowed five 3-pointers from the Golden Eagles.

“We thought they would go a 1-3-1 zone on us because they had trouble guarding us the first time we played them,” Women’s Mustangs coach Tom Webb said. “We just talked about shooting it with confidence and letting it fly that’s who we are and we can’t change who we are now. We also talked about limiting their rebounding and if we do that, we can go on a run. Borchers has done an amazing job here and when we look back at the end of the year, we’ll be sad she isn’t here anymore. She made her last game a memorable one. She’ll remember this for the rest of her life.”