SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – No. 2 seed Southwest Minnesota State used 28 points from conference player of the year, Bri Stoltzman, and 27 points and 11 rebounds from Audrey Swanson, to earn an 87-79 victory over No. 7 seed MSU Moorhead in the quarterfinals of the NSIC tournament inside the Sanford Pentagon.
 
SMSU, ranked No. 19/21 nationally and No. 7 in this week's NCAA Central Region rankings, improves to 26-3 overall and will now play in the tournament semifinals on Monday at 1:30 p.m. versus either Minnesota State or UMary.
 
The 26 victories is a new program record surpassing the 25 set by the 2000-01 team.
 
Stoltzman finished the game making 9 of 17 shots from the field, while making 9 of 11 from the free throw line. She also had five assists, four steals and three rebounds. Swanson recorded her 14^th double-double of the season, while connecting on 9 of 17 field goals and dishing out five assists.
 
SMSU finished the game shooting 47 percent (29 of 62) from the field, including 7 of 26 from 3-point range. The Mustangs made 22 of 25 from the foul line and held a 34-30 rebound advantage.
 
Peyton Blandin made three 3-pointers and scored 17 points for the Mustangs with teammate Natalie Nielsen adding 12 points and nine rebounds before fouling out with five minutes left in the game.
 
Natalie Jens led the Dragons (14-16) with 29 points, while Terryn Johnson added 22 points and eight rebounds. MSUM finished the game shooting 45 percent (29 of 64), including 18 of 30 in the second half.
 
SMSU held a 14-13 advantage with four minutes left in the opening quarter before closing quarter on an 8-1 run to build a 22-14 lead after 10 minutes.
 
Swanson and Stoltzman each hit 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the second quarter to expand the lead to 32-20. The Mustangs would later use a 7-2 run, capped by a Peyton Blandin 3-pointer with 4:20 left in the quarter to take their largest lead of the half at 39-23.
 
MSUM answered with a 6-2 run to close the half, limiting SMSU to 1 of 6 shooting, to cut the deficit to 41-29 at halftime.
 
SMSU shot 55 percent (16 of 29) from the field with four 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes with Swanson pouring in 14 points with seven rebounds. The SMSU defense limited MSUM to 32 percent shooting in the opening half with one 3-pointer.
 
SMSU used an 8-0 run midway in the third quarter capped by a Blandin 3-pointer with 5:56 left to push the lead to 56-42. The Mustangs would have a pair of 15-point leads later in the quarter before settling for a 70-57 lead after 30 minutes. SMSU made 11 of 18 field goals in the third quarter
 
The Mustangs struggled in the fourth quarter making just one of their first 11 shots in the first five minutes with the Dragons using a key 9-0 to cut the deficit to 74-67 with 4:32 left in the game. Stoltzman stopped the run with two free throws but MSUM countered with four straight to make the score 76-71 with three minutes remaining.
 
SMSU held a 79-73 advantage with less than two minutes left when a technical foul was issued to the MSUM bench. SMSU made three of four free throws following the foul to push the margin to 10 points and seal the victory.
 
SMSU is making its third straight NSIC tournament semifinal appearance.