Lady T's Hold Off Mayville in OT
By Dan Holsworth
Madison Daily Leader

     Dakota State University's Lady Trojans almost let one slip through their slender fingers Thursday before surviving Mayville State University's late-game charge to earn a hard-fought 65-63 overtime DAC-10 Conference win.

     Leading by as much as 15 points, 50-35, midway in the second half, DSU, which led 35-30 at halftime, then had Mayville State press Jeff Dittman's women to the maximum on the DSU Fieldhouse hardwood.

     The Comets racked up 22 points in the remaining nine-plus minutes of the second half, while holding the Lady T's to just seven, resulting in a 57-57 deadlock at the end of regulation.

     It took a bucket by DSU's Hali McClelland with 13 seconds left and the Lady T's ball-hawking defense to end the contest in the five-minute extra period.

     "Mayville is an excellent team that gives you matchup problems," said Dittman, DSU's head coach.  "They are also an excellent defensive team that creates steals by overplaying passing lanes.  This was a big win for us against a quality Dakota-10 Conference team.  I felt our offense did a good job most of the evening until we hit a scoring drought the last seven minutes."

     On the night, Kathy Shypulski was the Lady T's sparkplug, launching five 3-ponters along the way to a 22-point performance.  She was aided by McClelland who, along with her gamewinner, collected 18 points.  Jennie Sonne worked the inside, netting 14 points of her own.

Kathy Shypulski	Hali McClelland	Jennie Sonne

         Heidi and Jessica Honermann also had respective five- and four-point outings as the Lady T's banked in their field goals at a 27-of-60 clip.

     "Kathy got us off to a good start in the ballgame, hitting 14 points by halftime," said Dittman.  "The second half was Hali's turn.  She hit the basket to tie the game in regulation and hit the game-winning shot in overtime.  Besides her scoring, she grabbed five offensive rebounds that got us some second-chance points."

     "Jennie also hit 14 points in the low post and caused Mayville to do a lot of double-teaming which gave us some good shots at the high post and on the perimeter."

     Much of Mayville's offensive pressure came from Melissa Charboneau, who collected 22 points of her own, including a number of late-game field goal successes.  Kassy Anderson also contributed 13 Comet counters as Mayville almost matched DSU's field goal shooting, going 27-61 from the field.

     "Our defense was excellent tonight," added Dittman.  "Mayville has three quality scorers who we were able to keep in check for most of the evening in a halfcourt set.  Where Mayville hurt us was in points off turnovers.  When we turned it over, they were able to get a lay-up or 2-on-1 situation on us.  When they came back on us in the last seven minutes, the majority of those points came after a turnover."

     With Shypulski's five 3's and another by Heidi Honermann, the Lady T's outgunned Mayville 6-3 in shooting beyond the 3-point arc, which was crucial in this close ballgame.

     DSU also won the battle of the boards, outrebounding Mayville 37-32 with McClelland coming down with a team-leading six rebounds, while Amy Balk had five and Heidi Honermann four.

     Mayville got seven rebounds apiece from Anderson and Charboneau.

     The Lady T's host Valley City State University Friday in DAC-10 action at the Fieldhouse at 6 p.m..

          
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