Photo by Jake McNeill Southwest Minnesota State guard Madison Gehloff drives into the paint during the fourth quarter of a Northern Sun InterCollegiate Conference Tournament first-round game against Augustana at SMSU’s R/A Facility in Marshall on Wednesday night. The fifth-seeded Mustangs picked up a 93-85 win over the No. 12 Vikings.

MARSHALL — After some struggles in the Southwest Minnesota State womens basketball team’s regular-season finale against Minnesota State Moorhead on Saturday, Madison Gehloff wasted no time hanging her head. The senior guard posted a 35-point double-double in the first round of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament on Wednesday night, leading the Mustangs to a 93-85 win behind her career-high performance.

Gehloff’s career night came on efficient shooting, going 13 of 17 from the field with three 3-pointers. Her 10 rebounds were also a team-high, earning Gehloff her first career double-double and pacing the Mustangs to a 42-37 advantage on the glass. Augustana’s Michaela Jewett led the game with 11 rebounds while Bri Stoltzman grabbed another nine for SMSU.

Gehloff wasn’t the only Mustang to hit a career milestone in SMSU’s final home game of the season. Junior guard Bri Stoltzman hit a layup in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter to give SMSU an 81-70 lead and surpass the 1,000-point mark for her career. She finished the night with 19 points, her career total of 1,005 placing her 25th in program history. She needs another 25 points to pass Mary Roddel for 20th on the Mustangs’ all-time list.

Aby Phipps started Augustana out on a high note with a pair of jumpers to give the Vikings an early 4-0 lead. They were able to stay one step ahead of the Mustangs for the first four minutes of play until Bri Stoltzman gave SMSU its first lead of the game with a layup to make the score 9-8.

SMSU and Augustana continued to trade baskets until the Vikings ended the first quarter with a 26-25 lead. Neither team led by more than one possession after the first four minutes.

SMSU changed that early in the second with a go-ahead Gehloff 3-pointer and a layup by Hannah Parsley. Gehloff gave the Mustangs their largest lead of the game at the time, 32-26, when she hit a layup with 6:42 to play in the frame. The Mustangs never led by more than 7 points in the first half but Augustana also couldn’t cut the lead back to one possession until Phipps hit a layup 34 seconds before halftime, sending SMSU into the locker room with a 43-40 lead behind Gehloff’s 14 second-quarter points.

The Vikings put together a balanced scoring attack on the day with 17 points each from Phipps, Lauren Sees and Johanna Miller. Michaela Jewett led the team with 21 points in the game.

Still, 3-point shooting killed Augustana. While Sees made a pair of 3-pointers, the Vikings as a team shot 3 of 18 from beyond the arc while the Mustangs shot 11 of 21. Wall led the Mustangs with 5 of 7 shooting from 3-point range, finishing with 17 points on the night. Wall now is just three 3-pointers shy of Jenna Borchers’ program record.

After battling through the first half of the third quarter, Augustana finally tied the game back up at 52-52 on a pair of free throws from Michaela Jewett with 4:49 remaining in the frame. Yet, Stoltzman hit a layup and stole the ball to set up a Hannah Parsley and-1 in transition to put SMSU right back up by 5 points.

Stoltzman finished the night with a game-high six assists with just a pair of turnovers while Parsley had another five assists on one turnover. SMSU finished the night with 19 assists, four more than Augustana, but turned it over 10 times while forcing just four Augie turnovers. Wall had a pair of steals on the night, the only player on either team with multiple, while Maddie Thorfinnson blocked a pair of shots.

Kate Leisen hit a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter to cut SMSU’s lead to 63-60 entering the final frame. Yet, Wall hit a pair of 3-pointers to extend the Mustangs’ advantage to 9 points within the first minute of the quarter. From there, Gehloff closed out the game with 13 fourth-quarter points. The Mustangs led by as many as 13 points.

Southwest Minnesota State (18-11, 15-7 NSIC) will take on No. 4 Northern State (20-8, 16-6 NSIC) in the NSIC tournament quarterfinals on Sunday.

The game will be played at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. at 4:30 p.m. The Mustangs trounced the Wolves 73-53 when they hosted Northern State for Tropical Night on Jan. 27. Bri Stoltzman scored 18 points with seven rebounds and a block in the win while Brynn Alfson led Northern State with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

SMSU also held Madelyn Bragg — the NSIC’s third-leading scorer behind UMary’s Lexie Schneider and Stoltzman — to 9 points, marking the first time all season that she was held to single digits. She finished with 6 or fewer points in three of the Wolves’ final four games in the regular season.