SIOUX CITY, Iowa --- The University of St. Francis women's basketball team held NAIA No.7 ranked Morningside College (Iowa) nearly 27 points below its season scoring average, but the No.16 Saints could not stop 14-0 and 13-2 runs in the second half, allowing the Mustangs to advance to the Round of 8 at the NAIA National Championships with a 53-42 victory Friday night.
 

Morningside (28-2) came into the matchup averaging 79.9 points per game (18th-best in the nation), while boasting the 16th-best shooting numbers (.442 field goal pct.). On Friday, the Mustangs converted at just a .380 clip (19-of-50) and were a woeful 10-of-19 at the free throw line leading to their lowest point total of the season.
 

Unfortunately, the Saints struggled just as much offensively, producing a season-low 42 points with their fewest amount of field goals (15) this year. Morningside also coaxed the majority of USF's 20 turnovers with its 12 steals.
 

The Mustangs, winners of 22 straight games with their only two losses coming by two points each, looked to slowly pull away in the second quarter with eight unanswered points to go up 17-10. But three straight treys from Justene Charlesworth (JR/Wanatah, Ind.) got the Saints back into the contest at 20-19.
 

A putback basket by Morningside's Sophia Peppers just before the second-quarter buzzer to give the Mustangs a 24-21 lead seemed to be harmless at the time. Instead, it started the 14-0 run that would carry through the first four minutes of the third quarter to put Morningside up 36-21. 
 

USF broke up the outburst with the next six points only to have Morningside respond with the 13-2 run that would carry into the fourth quarter and provide the Mustangs with their biggest advantage of the night at 49-29.
 

The Saints could never answer. Despite ten players scoring for USF, only Charlesworth reached double figures (14 points), while Shadrian McDaniel (JR/Chicago, Ill.) hit for half that amount with no other St. Francis player scoring more than four points.
 

Morningside stymied USF leading scorer Andriana Acosta (SR/Crest Hill, Ill.), allowing her just four points, all of which came in the opening quarter. Despite the low offensive numbers, Acosta continued her year-long work on the boards finishing with a game-high 13 caroms.
 

Peppers led Morningside with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Sierra Mitchell, the Mustangs' leading scorer at just under 18 points per game, was next in line with 11 markers.
 

USF's appearance in the Round of 16 was its fifth in as many years. The Saints closed out the season at 23-6.