Photo by Jake McNeill: Southwest Minnesota State University guard Brynn Busse (center) jogs back on defense as the SMSU student section reacts to a 3-pointer during the second half of a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference womens basketball tournament game, Wednesday in Marshall.

MARSHALL — For the sixth year in a row, the Southwest Minnesota State University womens basketball team is headed for the Sanford Pentagon. Opening the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament as the No. 5 seed, the Mustangs hosted No. 12 Minnesota Crookston in a first-round matchup Wednesday night and came away with a 77-65 win behind a balanced scoring attack.

“I think we just had a lot of energy, and we knew the gameplan going in, so we shared the ball a lot,” SMSU guard Nicole Maenke said. “We played as a team. Everyone made shots and everyone stepped up, and I think in the fourth quarter you really saw how we can play as a team.”

Maenke tied Audrey Swanson with a team-high 17 points in the game, followed by 16 from Kylan Gerads and 10 from Elizabeth Wagner. Maenke shot 4 of 8 from 3-point range and 5 of 11 from the field, while Swanson shot 7 of 18 from the field. Wagner didn’t miss a shot on the day, making each of her four attempts.

As a passer, Maenke’s five assists on one turnover trailed only Allie Haabala’s six turnover-free assists.

The Mustangs trailed by 6 points three minutes into the second quarter when Maenke hit a 3-pointer and a free throw and Maddie Thorfinnson knocked down 2 of 3 from the charity stripe to tie up the game at 23 points apiece. A free throw from Wagner put SMSU on top halfway through the half.

Crookston played the Mustangs close from there, keeping the gap between 1 and 3 points for the remainder of the half. After a Swanson layup gave the Mustangs a 32-29 lead, neither team scored for the remainder of the first half.

The Golden Eagles trailed for the majority of the first quarter, but came on strong late. Trailing by 4 points, Hope Dudycha and Emma Miller each knocked down a 3 on consecutive possessions to put Crookston on top and Riley Jenkins knocked down a midrange jumper to give the Golden Eagles a 17-13 lead after the first frame.

SMSU is still looking to adjust to its new lineups and rotations in the absence of starting center Natalie Nielsen due to injury, SMSU head coach Tom Webb said, which combined with some early shooting struggles led to a slow start for the Mustangs. Webb told his team at halftime that they’d need to make six 3s in the second half in order to pull out a win — they made five — and they tweaked the way in which they attacked the zone defense as well to shift the game’s momentum.

For a moment, SMSU maintained a lead over the stretch when Maenke caught a grenade and knocked down a deep 3 with two defenders on her. Yet, the play was reviewed at the end of the quarter and the officials ruled the ball left her hand after the shot clock had expired.

Despite missing Nielsen, SMSU managed to win the rebounding battle 41-31, leading to a 15-7 edge in second-chance points. Swanson led the Mustangs on the glass with 14 total and three offensive rebounds.

“We outrebounded Wayne by 14, then outrebounded Crookston by 10, so we know it’s going to be a team effort on the glass, which is what you need anyway,” Webb said. “You’re just proud of them for competing, believing and keeping going. When adversity hits, this team’s had a lot of adversity this year and to win 17 is a good thing. Now we want to get to 18 or whatever we an keep getting to. I think they just understand that every possession really matters and you’ve got to work as hard as you can while you’re in and just figure the rest of it out.”

SMSU and Crookston traded baskets over the first few minutes, neither leading by more than one possession until Haabala assisted a Swanson layup and Wagner hit a free throw to give SMSU a 10-6 lead.

Crookston scored each of the first 7 points of the second half to surge back ahead. Rayna Klejeski hit a layup on the Golden Eagles’ first trip down the court, Halle Winjum came up with a steal to set up an Emma Miller layup, and Riley Jenkins stole the ball in the half court and converted an and-1 layup for a 36-32 lead.

Still, the Mustangs didn’t stay down for long. A pair of Gerads free throws made it a one-possession game, and a Haabala 3 and a Wagner layup gave SMSU a 41-38 lead with 5:43 to play in the third. SMSU went on to take a 50-46 lead into the fourth.

SMSU’s lead reached a new high in the fourth quarter when a Maenke 3 and layups from Swanson and Haabala gave SMSU a 59-50 cushion with eight minutes to play.

SMSU improves to 17-11 on the season, 14-8 in NSIC play, and next takes on fourth-seeded UMary in the NSIC quarterfinals at the Sioux Falls Pentagon on Sunday at 11 a.m. The Mustangs defeated the Marauders 89-75 during the regular season behind a 28-point, 16-rebound double-double from Swanson and another 21 points from Maenke.

“It’ll be fun. Definitely a different role [for me this year compared to last], so definitely going to have to step up, but we just have a great team so I think it’ll be fun to play on that stage and play such great teams and great competition, and get some more upsets,” Maenke said.