The Knights (5-5) trailed 31-30 at the half but the host Beavers shot 55 percent in the second half, including a 7-for-12 performance from three-point range.
Stephanie Peterson paced the Beavers (6-6) with 14 points and Heidi Matzke added 12 points, 10 assists and five rebounds. Karlee Simonson had 13 points to go with five rebounds and Maggie Gernbacher tallied 11 points. Simonson, Matzke and Gernbacher had three 3-pointers each as the host Beavers connected on 12-of-27 shots from beyond the arc.
Hannah Oken-Berg added nine points, three assists and three blocked shots for Carleton, which lost for the third straight time. Annie Isler added eight points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals and Sarah Kunelius tallied eight points and four boards.
The Knights raced to an early 9-3 lead as the Beavers didn't start their normal starting five. BSU used a 10-4 spurt, including a pair of three-pointers, to tie the game at 13-13. The lead would change hands three more times before the half, with the hosts leading 31-30 at the break.
The second half was a different story. The Beavers scored the first five points of the period and pushed the lead to 11, as they drained a trio of three-pointers in the first three minutes of the half. Carleton battled back, though, as Kunelius ripped home consecutive triples and Oken-Berg scored inside, followed by an Isler long-range bomb and Vig lay-up, making it 52-48 with 13 minutes, 10 seconds remaining.
Carleton proceeded to go ice cold from the field, going without a field goal for nearly eight minutes, as a four-point deficit grew to 15 with less than five minutes left. In fact, the Knights had but one field goal in the final 12 minutes and was 6-of-14 from the free-throw line in that same span.
Carleton shot a respectable 48 percent from the floor to BSU's 45 percent. BSU, though, shot 20 more times than the Knights as Carleton's 10-for-25 free throw shooting performance didn't allow it to take advangate of a huge free-throw disparity (25-7). Carleton had 20 turnovers to BSU's 16.
Carleton vs Bemidji State 12/31/05 1 p.m. at Bemidji, Minn. (BSU Gymnasium) At Bemidji, Minn. (BSU Gymnasium) BEMIDJI STATE 74, CARLETON 59 CARLETON (5-5; 3-2 MIAC) Megan Vig 6-14 3-6 16; Hannah Oken-Berg 4-7 1-8 9; Sarah Kunelius 2-4 2-2 8; Annie Isler 2-6 2-4 8; Sarah Lincoln 2-2 1-2 6; Emily Strandmark 2-4 0-0 5; Anna Biewen 1-4 1-3 3; Andrea Korb 1-1 0-0 2; Andrea Dahl 1-2 0-0 2; Liz Baumgartner 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-44 10-25 59. BEMIDJI STATE (6-6; 0-0 NSIC) Peterson, Stephanie 7-10 0-0 14; Simonson, Karlee 5-8 0-0 13; Matzke, Heidi 4-9 1-2 12; Gernbacher, Maggie 3-7 2-2 11; Lawson, Amy 3-8 1-3 7; McConkey, Nancy 2-5 0-0 4; Roberts, Melissa 2-6 0-0 4; Friend, Nicole 1-3 0-0 3; Smith, Bridget 1-4 0-0 3; Bremmer, Katherine 1-3 0-0 3; Wenlund, Jenny 0-0 0-0 0; Mazurek, Nichole 0-1 0-0 0; Boell, Colleen 0-0 0-0 0; Grones, Alexa 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-64 4-7 74. Carleton...................... 30 29 - 59 Bemidji State................. 31 43 - 74 3-point goals-Carleton 7-15 (Sarah Kunelius 2-4; Annie Isler 2-3; Megan Vig 1-4; Emily Strandmark 1-3; Sarah Lincoln 1-1), Bemidji State 12-27 (Matzke, Heidi 3-5; Simonson, Karlee 3-4; Gernbacher, Maggie 3-6; Friend, Nicole 1-3; Bremmer, Katherine 1-3; Smith, Bridget 1-3; Roberts, Melissa 0-2; Lawson, Amy 0-1). Fouled out--Carleton-None, Bemidji State-None. Rebounds-Carleton 32 (Megan Vig 11), Bemidji State 36 (Simonson, Karlee 5; Matzke, Heidi 5). Assists-Carleton 14 (Annie Isler 6), Bemidji State 23 (Matzke, Heidi 10). Total fouls-Carleton 10, Bemidji State 23. A-228