DULUTH, Minn. – Turnovers hurt Minot State University women's basketball's chance at a weekend sweep.
 
The Beavers turned the ball over 22 times to allow Minnesota Duluth to take nine more shots as the Bulldogs built and early lead and finished with a 69-48 win over MSU in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play Saturday at Romano Gymnasium.
 
MSU (3-11 overall, 1-7 NSIC) took just seven shots in the first quarter as UMD jumped out to a 17-6 lead. That lead grew to 37-21 at half and 59-32 after three quarters as the Beavers again hit just three field goals in the third quarter.
 
"Our focus wasn't there tonight," said MSU head coach Sheila Green Gerding. "Our effort was solid and we competed in a lot of ways, but you have to be locked into executing on offense and defense and we didn't do that."
 
The loss spoiled a great weekend for junior Kristal Flowers, who finished with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds a night after pulling down 17 boards. She hit 6 of 12 shots from the field.
 
"Kristal really rebounded the ball well this weekend and competed hard," said Green Gerding. "Mariah (Payne) attacked hard and distributed the ball well again for us."
 
UMD (7-4, 6-2) got great overall balance as just two players reached double figures and 11 players scored. Jenna Orr led UMD with 13 points.
 
Minot State had three in double figures scoring as Mariah Payne and Kori Eurich joined Flowers with 11 and 10 points respectively. Payne added three assists and two rebounds, hitting 6 of 8 free throws for the Beavers.
 
MSU returns to the Dome for a pair of NSIC North games, taking on Minnesota State University Moorhead Friday and Northern State Saturday.
 
About Minot State
Minot State University is a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) and NCAA Division II offering 14 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletics programs. The NSIC is a premier NCAA DII, 16-member conference featuring teams in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa. The Beavers are the only public NCAA Division II institution in the state of North Dakota.