SEWARD, Ind. - The fifth-ranked Marian women's basketball team started the Cattle Classic off with a top-10 win, as they took down No. 8 Dakota State 78-69 Friday afternoon. The Knights are now 2-0 to start the year as Kinnidy Garrard joins the 1,000 point club in the win. 

Tamia Perryman started the scoring on the day as she knocked down a jumper, giving Marian the 6-0 run to start the game. Dakota State answered back with a triple for their first points of the game. The two teams traded points the remainder of the first quarter, but a three-pointer by Josie Trable and Aliyah Evans scored in the final two minutes, giving the Knights the 16-12 lead after the quarter one. 

After scoring the final points of the first quarter, Trabel and Evans got the scoring started to begin quarter two with back-to-back buckets. Dakota State responded and the scoring went back and forth before the Trojans scored the final four points of the quarter to cut their deficit to three, with Marian on top 30-27 at the break.

A jumper by Abbey McNally and Perryman extended the Knights lead to seven, but a Trojan triple answered. Collier got Marian back on track with the and-one play, while Kinnidy Garrard added the layup and a pair of free throws to put Marian on top 41-36 at the 5:59 mark. A shot by Collier 30 seconds later that sparked a 6-3 spurt to jump ahead eight. A layup by Dakota State ended the run, but it was Marian finding the double digit lead after back-to-back layups from Garrard and Collier. Dakota State found a run of their own in the final two minutes to trail by six at 54-48 going into the final quarter. 

With the six point lead at hand, baskets from Collier, Garrard, and McNally put the Knights back up by 10 with 7:40 to play. A 9-2 run by the Trojans kept them in the game before Garrard responded with a layup and Allison Bosse added the triple to give them the five-point lead with under five minutes to play. A pair of free throws by Dakota state cut the Marian lead back to three, but another Bosse three put the Knights back up five. Marian held the 69-64 lead with 2:09 left to play, forcing the Trojans to foul. The Knights knocked down free throws in the final minutes to take the 77-69 victory. 

Garrard had a game-high and career-high 26 points to go along with 13 rebounds for the double double. Collier added 17 points and dished out five assists, while McNally scored nine points, had a team-high six assists, and pulled down five rebounds. 

Marian will be back in action Saturday at 3 p.m. as they take on No. 17 Concordia (Neb.) in the final game of the Cattle Classic.

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