SIOUX CITY -- Morningside pulled away in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, evening its women's basketball record at 2-2 with an 84-53 victory over Mount Mercy in the last of three games in the Morningside Classic Friday at the Rosen-Verdoorn Sports Center.

After a 13-point first-half lead shrunk to seven by intermission, the Mustangs went to work after the break, outscoring Mount Mercy 28-13 in the opening 10 minutes.

"I think we came out with energy and then we got a couple of our scorers in foul trouble and got a little lazy and turned the ball over a lot," said Morningside Coach Jamie Sale. "But, defensively, I think we kept our intensity the best we have all year.

"It was a little frustrating with 10 minutes of turnovers and sloppy basketball, but once we got it going it was much better."

Tanaeya Worden scored 16 points while Brittany Williamson added 12 points and seven rebounds and Chelsie Trask 11 for Morningside, ranked No. 1 in the NAIA Division II preseason poll. A total of 12 players broke into the scoring column for the Mustangs, who converted 18 of 21 free throws and forced 32 turnovers.

"Obviously, Jamie was upset with the turnover issue at halftime," said Williamson, a senior from Ruthven, Iowa, who went over 1,000 points for her career in a Tuesday win over Grand View. "We knew that if we came out and took care of the ball in the second half we could take care of business."

Terri Dirks came off the bench to score 11 points and Heather Bachman added 10 in a reserve role for Mount Mercy, now 1-1 overall. Mount Mercy shot just 30.6 percent from the field (15-for-39), including 7-for-22 from three-point range.

Morningside led 30-17 with just under four minutes remaining in the first half, but Mount Mercy reeled off nine unanswered points, pulling within 30-26 on a three-pointer by Catalina Quintana with 1:31 remaining. Leslie Foral converted a conventional three-point play at the 1:18 mark for Morningside's only points in the last four minutes of the half.

The Mustangs, though, applied defensive pressure to start the second half and consecutive three-pointers by Trask, followed by another from Foral, pushed the lead back to 44-30.

"The defense wasn't where we want it yet, but it was a lot closer than it was the first weekend," said Sale. "If we can improve next week like we did this week I think we'll start to get somewhere.

"We have a real tough game against Davenport tomorrow. They're a top five team in the country and in the Final Eight last year, so it will be a nice measuring stick to see if we've improved from last week."

Morningside plays Davenport (Mich.) at 3 o'clock today, following an 11 a.m. contest between Dakota State and Hastings and a 1 p.m. game between Mount Mercy and Concordia. Davenport, No. 3 in the preseason Division II poll, lost to Hastings 74-72 on Friday.

MOUNT MERCY (53)

Catalina Quintana 2-9 1-4 7, Micha Mims 2-8 1-2 6, Ashley Koch 1-5 2-2 4, Emily Greiner 1-5 0-0 3, Shanda Novak 0-3 2-2 2, Kadie Carman 1-4 2-2 5, Terri Dirks 3-7 4-7 11, Tonya Davis 1-2 1-4 3, Heather Bachman 3-4 2-3 10, Laura Lippert 0-0 0-0 0, Mackenzie Skay 0-0 0-0 0, Ciara Allen 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 15-49 16-26 53.

MORNINGSIDE (84)

Chelsie Trask 4-6 1-1 11, Tanaeya Worden 6-15 0-0 16, Leslie Foral 2-5 1-1 6, Laura Nelson 2-6 0-0 6, Brittany Williamson 3-5 6-6 12, Katie Sponder 1-4 1-2 3, Roni Miller 0-1 7-9 7, Brittany Alfredson 3-7 0-0 7, MacKenzi Mendlik 0-4 0-0 0, Shelby Beaudette 3-6 0-0 7, Bobbi McManaman 1-5 00 3, Sarah Culp 0-2 0-0 0, Lindsay Determan 2-5 0-0 4, Lauren Nugent 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 27-71 18-21 84.

Halftime -- Morningside 33, Mount Mercy 26. 3-point shots -- Mount Mercy 7-22 (Bachman 2-3, Quintana 1-4, Greiner 1-4, Dirks 1-4, Mims 1-3, Carman 1-3, Allen 0-1), Morningside 12-31 (Worden 4-7, Nelson 2-4, Trask 2-2, Alfredson 1-4, Foral 1-3, McManaman 1-3, Beaudette 1-2, Determan 0-3, Williamson 0-1, Mendlik 0-1, Sponder 0-1). Rebounds -- Mount Mercy 40 (Dirks 7), Morningside 44 (Williamson 7). Assists -- Mount Mercy 8 (Quintana 2, Mims 2), Morningside 17 (Foral 4). Turnovers -- Mount Mercy 32, Morningside 20. Total fouls -- Mount Mercy 17, Morningside 22. Fouled out -- None. Officials -- Brian Ryken, Dawn McInroy, Mike Pooley.