FOND DU LAC, Wis. (SabreAthletics.com) – The Marian University women's basketball team remained unbeaten after handing visiting MSOE its first loss of the season, 70-65, in an early season Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference showdown inside Sadoff Gymnasium, this evening, Dec. 3.

Defense was the stalwart that drove the Sabres to yet another win, pushing their record to 5-0 overall, 3-0 in the NACC. Freshman guard Courtney Klister registered 9 steals, including 6 in the first half alone, to go along with 11 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Marian forced 23 turnovers on the night to stave off the Raiders (2-1, 1-1 NACC).

"We battled, it was neck-and-neck the whole way," Head Coach Bill Peters said. "We relinquished the lead late, but got it back with some very unselfish play and very good defense. I'm proud of how hard our kids battled the entire game."

Senior Sarah Olewinski led four Sabres in double figures with 13 points, while Emma Jarvey added 12 and Megan Lantz chipped in 10. Marian's bench proved essential in the win, outscoring MSOE 36-8.

The Sabres took their first lead of the game with 7:28 left in the first half after Jessica Roberts converted 1-of-2 free throws following a steal and a foul to make it 14-13 and erased MSOE's largest lead of the game of 3 points.

Marian would increase the margin to its largest of the game of 8 points when Megan Lantz made a pair of freebies to make it 26-18 with 2:27 left. The Sabres would hang on for a 29-26 halftime lead, scoring 14 points off 16 MSOE turnovers.

Marian opened the second half with an Olewinski layup and would increase the lead to 39-33 with a Klister 3-pointer shortly thereafter.

However, MSOE would chip away as Shaylan Reardon led Raiders in double figures with 22 points on 6-for-10 shooting, including 8-for-10 from the free throw line. The Raiders took advantage at the free throw line throughout the second half after winding up in the double-bonus with 10-plus minutes remaining.

"When we put them in the double-bonus with over 10 minutes left, I thought that was the one thing that would make it extremely tough on us because we were playing so well," Peters said. "I was really happy with the way we overcame that. I'm proud of how hard we played."

They made 16-of-19 from the charity stripe in the final 20 minutes in all and it was a pair of Megan Kroll free throws that gave the Raiders a 60-58 lead with 3:36 remaining.

Marian would lock it down on the defensive end after that, going on an 8-2 run and forcing MSOE into four consecutive missed shots to take a commanding 68-62 advantage with 49 seconds left. An Olewinski 3-pointer and back-to-back buckets by Jarvey on key looks inside by Lantz and Klister got the run started and proved too much for MSOE to overcome.

Marian shot 50 percent (12-for-24) in the second half, while holding the Raiders to under 45 percent.

Holly Denfeld added 15 points, 12 rebounds for MSOE, while Kroll chipped in 15 points as well.

The Sabres will have a chance to make it six straight wins to open the season when they play host to Rockford this Saturday, Dec. 6.