Win Puts BHSU in Tie for Lead
Special to the Rapid City Journal

     SPEARFISH -- Black Hills State and Dakota State, two former members of the South Dakota-Iowa Conference, are enjoying success in their first season in the Dakota-10 Athletic Conference.

     The Yellow Jackets tied the Lady Trojans for the DAC-10 conference lead in women's basketball with a hard-fought 71-68 win Friday night at the Young Center.  Both BHSU and DSU have 6-2 conference records.

     Dakota State had a chance to send the game into overtime, but missed a pair of three-point attempts in the closing seconds.  "We'd like to have had one more shot go down," said DSU head coach Jeff Dittman.  "It was a game of spurts.  I felt like we lost the game in the last 10 minutes of the first half when we turned the ball over and gave Black Hills some easy baskets."

     "We had some big steals from the back side on double teams and rotation," said BHSU coach Kevin Dobbs.  "That's probably the best defensive game we've played in my four years at BH."

     The Lady Yellow Jackets' senior duo of Melissa Braegger, 26 points, and Becky Schulz, 14 points, combined for 40 points.  Darcy Reinicke, a sophomore from Rapid City, chipped in 18 points.

     Dakota State had its own 1-2 scoring punch with senior guards Heidi Honermann and Kathy Shypulski picking up 20 and 14 points, respectively.  The senior twosome combined to drain nine-of-18 three-point attempts.  Jennie Sonne, a 6-1 sophomore center, added 18 points.

Heidi Honermann		Kathy Shypulski	Jennie Sonne

     The first half featured the combatants trading scoring spurts.  Dakota State built an 8-0 lead after two baskets each by Jessica Honermann and Sonne.  Black Hills answered with its own 8-0 run on two field goals each by Braegger and Reinicke.

     It was then the Trojans' turn to produce a scoring run.  Dakota State forged a 19-10 advantage with 9:23 left in the half.  The visitors owned a 24-19 edge when the Jackets went on a 13-1 outburst to close out the first half, which ended with Black Hills leading 32-25.

     After Schulz canned a basket, presenting BH with a 24-25 advantage at the start of the second half, Dakota State dialed long distance to knot the contest.  Honermann connected from beyond the three-point arc twice and Shypulski added another trifecta, tying the game at 36-36 with 16 minutes remaining.

     The two teams were tied at 38, 40, and 43.  Dakota State pushed its lead to 52-49 when Shypulski sank a charity shot.

     Sparked by steals, Black Hills came back with a 9-0 spurt.  A steal and ensuing layup by Braegger gave the hosts a 65-55 edge.

     The never-say-die Trojans, ranked 16th in the NAIA Division II poll, didn't quit.  Led by two treys by Heidi Honermann and two free throws from Sonne, DSU sliced the gap to 69-66 with 55 seconds left.

     An inside hoop by Sonne made it a 69-68 game with 30 seconds remaining.  Schelle was fouled on the next BH possession.  She calmly sank both free throws regaining a three-point lead for BHSU.

     Shypulski, the hero of last year's 102-86 win by the Lady T's at the Young Center, then misfired on a pair of three-point attempts in the final seconds.

     "I thought we played a great second half," said coach Dittman.  "We did a great job of executing."  Dittman said offensive rebounding hurt his team.  

     "Black Hills had a lot of second shots on us.  You can't let a good offensive team have more than one shot on a possession."

     Dobbs said the key to success in the DAC-10 is simple.  "You have to win at home and split on the road," he said.  "Every game gets bigger now.  Thank goodness we came up with the spurt to put us up 10 points.  We had few statistics in our favor, but still won.  That's the mark of a good team."

     BH converted only three of 21 three-point attempts and was outrebounded 38-33.  The Lady Trojans converted 46 percent of their field goal attempts, compared to 43 percent for BH.

     BHSU, 6-2 in the DAC-10 and 7-11 overall, hosts Huron today.  Dakota State, 6-2 in the league and 13-5 overall, visits South Dakota Tech today.