Story by: Zach Koenig
Mankato, MN—The University of Minnesota-Morris women’s basketball team lost their second straight UMAC contest 79-65 at the hands of Bethany Lutheran on Saturday.
Despite the loss, Alaina Benson’s (Sr. Clinton, MN) 15 points moved her to 1,020 for her career. Benson is now 16th on UMM’s all-time scoring list, one point behind Julie Plahn-Longstreet.
Other double-digit scorers for the Cougars were Marissa Maynard (Sr. Blaine, MN) with 13 points and Coresa Leighty (Jr. New Ulm, MN) with 11.
Benson also pulled down six rebounds in the contest, while Leighty and Tynell Kocer (Jr. Pierre, SD) had four apiece.
The Cougars jumped out to a 15-9 lead in the first half, capped off by a Kara Norris (So. Zimmerman, MN) layup at 11:07.
At the 5:16 mark, however, Minnesota-Morris trailed 22-19. A three-point shot from Benson quickly tied the score.
The home team then went ahead by two points, but that was once again negated, this time by a jump-shot from Kristie Swenstad (So. Osakis, MN) to tie the game at 24-24 with 4:31 remaining.
The Cougars held the lead for the rest of the half, with a jumper from Arielle Anderson (Sr. Wayzata, MN) putting the halftime score at 34-29.
Minnesota-Morris saw its lead quickly vanish in the second half, with the home squad taking a 52-50 advantage with 9:37 remaining. Two points from Anderson would pull UMM equal again, but from that point it was all Bethany Lutheran.
The Cougars would pull within six points (63-57) on a three-point shot from Jamie Rainey (Jr. Maple Grove, MN) at 4:15, but were then outscored 16-9 the rest of the way for the 79-65 final.
UMM shot at a 37.9% (22-58) clip from the floor but were outscored 26-22 in the paint and 28-17 off the bench.
The loss dropped the Cougars’ record to 7-4 in the UMAC and 13-9 overall. They return home on Friday, February 15, to take on St. Scholastica at 5:30 p.m. Benson will be honored for her 1,000-point milestone before the start of the contest.
 | .gif) |
| Minnesota-Morris | 34 | 31 | 0 | 65 |
| Bethany | 29 | 50 | 0 | 79 |
Box Score
