Sam Thiel/Winonan

After starting the season strong with an 8-4 overall record, including a perfect 7-0 on their home floor, Winona State University women’s basketball returned from its winter break hiatus looking to make a statement in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference standings.

The Warriors started their second semester schedule with a pair of heartbreaking losses at home as they fell to the University of Mary and Minot State by scores of 65-62 in overtime and 60-59, respectively.

The Winona State women’s basketball team dropped its fourth game in a row, this time a 65-61 loss to Southwest Minnesota State Friday in Marshall, Minn.

Warrior Abby Busch recorded her sixth 20-point effort of the season, while chipping in a team-high five assists. The senior has now recorded 917 points in her career, making her the 17th player in program history to surpass the 900-point peak.

Winona State maintained its lead throughout most of the second half, with the Mustangs taking the lead with 1:51 remaining. The Warriors came within one point twice in the final two minutes but couldn’t get themselves ahead in the scoreboard.

Tara Roelofs connected on a trio of 3-pointers to score 11 points while Kate Hartman added ten off the bench for the Warriors. Kelsey Andrist and Connor Nagle each had six while Katie Zepczyk chipped in six rebounds.

The Warriors had a block party defensively, swatting seven Mustang shots, with Busch, Roelofs and Hartman each sending back two.

Andrist netted a team-high 17 points and the Winona State women’s basketball team connected on 12 3-pointers, but the Warriors continued their slide in a 63-53 losing effort Saturday in Sioux Falls.

Andrist recorded her 17 points, just three shy of her career-high, with the help of three triples. She was 7-of-11 from the floor overall as well as adding seven rebounds and dishing out five assists for the Warriors.

Nagle chipped in 13 points, hitting four triples of her own, while posting a team-high five steals.

Hartman also got into the action from deep, dropping four treys of her own to add 12 points.

“We were being more patient on offense and not forcing bad shots as well as not forcing shots while we were waiting for our screens, and that opened up more opportunities for us on the offensive end,” Nagle said. “Defensively we need to continue to be aggressive and have that ‘want it’ attitude along with being in the right spots to force those types of turnovers.”

Winona State went into the locker room at the half trailing by two, 33-31, with Andrist having the hot hand with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting. The Warriors had an eight-point advantage with just a little under seven minutes left in the half, but Sioux Falls used a 12-0 run to take the lead at the break.

The Cougars managed to keep the momentum in their favor early in the second half, going on a 13-4 run to begin the half to increase their lead to 48-35.

The Warriors wouldn’t go away, with a Hartman triple to cut the Sioux Falls lead to seven with 5:23 to go and a trey by Nagle got the team to within six, 56-50, with 4:19 left in the contest. That would be the closest Winona State would get with the Cougars holding the Warriors to three points in the last four minutes of the game.

The 12 Warrior three-pointers were a season-high, passing the previous record of 11, set last weekend against both University of Mary and Minot State.

Winona State University (8-8 overall, 4-8 NSIC) will hit the hardwood when it returns home this weekend to square off against Minnesota State Jan. 24 and Concordia-St. Paul on Jan. 25.

Contact Sam at [email protected]