Technically speaking, it was not a good day for the Mount Mercy women's basketball team.

Mount Mercy Coach Aaron Jennings and star player Abby Herb were both slapped with technical fouls Saturday and the Mustangs were ambushed by Luther, 96-84, in a non-conference game at the Hennessey Recreation Center.

Herb was called for an offensive foul with 18:09 left in the game, and when she voiced a mild objection she was called for a technical foul as well. Those were her fourth and fifth fouls of the contest and sent her to the bench for the rest of the day with her team trailing 49-34.

Jennings got his technical with 12:06 remaining when he thought a foul should have been called against one of Luther's players on a shot attempt by Makenzie Zeitler, but the official did not appreciate his advice.

It was a tough day all-around for the Mustangs. Luther made it even tougher by hitting fourteen 3-pointers and scoring the most points against Mount Mercy all season. The Mustangs scored a lot of points themselves, even without Herb, but they had no answers for the outside bombers from Decorah.

"Scoring wasn't the issue," said Jennings. "We were a step slow physically and we were a half-second slow mentally.

"Right now we're not good at defending the 3, and that's got to change because in our league we have some excellent shooting teams. You can win scoring 84. You can't win giving up 96."

The Mustangs (9-9) played back-to-back games Friday night and Saturday afternoon, whereas Luther had not played since Dec. 30, but Jennings did not think fatigue was a major factor in the contest. "That's not an excuse," he said.

Luther (10-1) shot a sizzling 14-for-30 on 3-pointers for 44.3 percent. Meagan Koepnick hit four triples and poured in 28 points. Kylie Romeo also made four 3-pointers and scored 18 points for the Norse.

Makenzie Zeitler, a 5-foot-8 junior, collected her second double-double in two days for Mount Mercy with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

"She's playing well, and she's supposed to," said Jennings. "She's a junior and she's a captain. She's very skilled."

Christa Oldham scored 17 points for Mount Mercy. Danielle Herdliska and Cedar Rapids Prairie grad Alisa Weiland had 15 apiece.

"That was Alisa's best game by far," said Jennings. "She was aggressive, she was attacking. A lot of times, she's the fastest player on the court.

"Today she was getting out, she was running, she was attacking. She was playing the way I want her to play all the time."

Mount Mercy will begin the Midwest Collegiate Conference season at Clarke on Wednesday.

LUTHER (96): Kilen 3 0-0 6, Koepnick 9 6-6 28, Lonning 2 2-2 7, Romeo 4 6-7 18, Madrigal 5 0-0 12, Jenks 3 0-0 6, Elton 2 0-0 5, hafner 0 0-0 0, Tewes 1 0-0 3, Mulford 0 0-0 0, Rehnelt 2 3-4 8, Stellner 0 0-0 0, Nelson 0 2-3 2, Resner 0 0-0 0, Mauer 0 0-0 0, Pirsig 0 1-2 1. Totals 31 20-24 96.

MOUNT MERCY (84): Herb 3 0-0 6, Herdliska 4 4-7 15, Oldham 4 9-11 17, Last 0 0-0 0, Zeitler 7 5-6 20, Thompson 0 2-2 2, Weiland 5 5-6 15, Timms 4 1-5 9, Sexton 0 0-1 0. Totals 27 26-38 84.

Halftime - Luther 45, Mount Mercy 30. 3-point goals - Luther 14 (Koepnick 4, Romeo 4, Madrigal 2, Lonning 1, Elton 1, Tewes 1, Rehnelt 1), Mount Mercy 4 (Herdliska 3, Zeitler 1).