Photo by Jake McNeill: Southwest Minnesota State University guard Audrey Swanson goes up for a contested layup in the paint during the first quarter of a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference womens basketball game against Augustana, Thursday in Marshall.

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MARSHALL — Audrey Swanson scored a game-high 24 points in her final regular-season home game as a member of the Southwest Minnesota State University womens basketball team Thursday night against Augustana. The Mustangs capitalized on the performance, pulling away late in the third quarter to claim a 74-71 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference win.

Swanson was one of four seniors on the team recognized in a postgame ceremony. Alongside her was starting forward Maddie Thorfinnson, center Kenadi Buchholz and Zoie Centers.

Starting center Natalie Nielsen was unavailable for the game due to an injury, but Buchholz stepped up when needed by SMSU. She played nine minutes in the first half, tying her season-high for a full game, and finished the night with 17 minutes on the court. Her 8 points on 3 of 4 shooting tied her season total heading into the night.

The Mustangs pulled aheadd for good over the last two-and-a-half minutes of the third quarter. Leading by 2 points, the Mustangs closed out the frame with 8 unanswered points, 5 of which came from Audrey Swanson, for a 60-50 edge heading into the fourth.

Augustana trailed for all but the first two minutes of the first half. After a strong close to the first to cut the gap to 3 at halftime, however, the Vikings came out strong in the second and tied the gape up at 40-all on a Kristen Edmonds 3 in the first minute of the second.

Nicole Maenke responded quickly for the Mustangs, knocking down a 3-pointer and the Mustangs retained a steady one- or two-possession lead from there.

Maliyah Elliot hit a layup for Augustana in the game’s first possession, but that was the lone lead of the game for the Vikings. Kylan Gerads answered with a layup on the ensuing possession for the Mustangs, and paint points from Kennadi Buchholz and Gerads and a Swanson 3 quickly gave the Mustangs a 9-4 lead.

The Mustangs started to pull away with four minutes left in the fourth quarter, with back-to-back 3s from Swanson and Maddie Thorfinnson bringing the cushion to 9 points.

Gerads knocked down a 3 and Buchholz followed with a layup to give the Mustangs their first double-digit lead of the game, 24-14, with 8:03 to play in the first half.

The Mustangs led by as many as 12 before Augustana started to chip away. Trailing 33-26, he Vikings went on a 6-1 run, with the last 4 points coming from Isabella Sanneh, to make it a one-possession game.

Swanson hit a layup with 71 seconds left in the half to give SMSU a little bit of breathing room, but an Ava Pautz jumper and a Sanneh free throw cut the gap to 36-35.

Getting possession back with 40 seconds to play, SMSU was fouled to reset the shot clock. Sanneh blocked a layup attempt from Swanson out of bounds with six seconds left on the clock, but Brynn Busse was fouled on the ensuing inbound pass to put the Mustangs in the bonus. She made both shots from the charity stripe to go up 38-35 at the break.

The Mustangs continued to pull away in the fourth quarter. Swanson connected from 3-point range to give SMSU its largest lead of the game to date, 65-52, to prompt an Augustana timeout with 8:30 to play.

Miranda Lomax knocked down a 3 for the Vikings to cut the deficit to 70-67 with 77 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Kylan Gerads showed off her footwork in the post to get a layup to bring the Mustangs’ lead back to 5 points, but Ava Pautz responded with a layup of her own for the Vikings to prompt an SMSU timeout with 43 seconds remaining. Out of the timeout, Gerads was once again patient in the post to get a clutch layup, and Cristina Wagner blocked a shot on the defensive end to keep the lead intact.

Pautz came up with another layup after Wagner’s block to keep it a game with 14.5 seconds to play. Augustana forced a turnover on Swanson’s ensuing inbound pass, but Wagner again stood tall in the post to force Sanneh into a miss on a layup attempt at the buzzer and the Mustangs claimed the win.

SMSU improves to 15-11 overall and 13-8 in conference play with the win. The Mustangs close out their regular-season schedule on the road this weekend, taking on Wayne State (Neb.) in Rice Auditorium on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Now locked into the fifth or sixth seed in the conference standings, the Mustangs will return to their home court one last time this season when they host the first round of the NSIC tournament on Wednesday at 5:30 or 6 p.m. SMSU has advanced to at least the semifinals of the tournament each of the last four years and at least the quarterfinals each of the last five.