Slipper Falls Off Lady T's Feet,
St. Francis Wins
By Dan Holsworth
Madison Daily Leader

     The glass slipper, figuratively speaking, fell off the feet of Dakota State University's Lady Trojans Friday at Sioux City, Iowa.  St. Francis, Ind., gave DSU its pink slip in the NAIA Div. II Women's Basketball Tournament, handing out a 62-56 loss in the Sioux City Arena.

     St. Francis, while shooting just 17-48 from the field, got 13 points apiece by Charity Richardson and Megan Eckert.  Jennie Thomas added 10 counters.

     Holding down St. Francis' vaunted offense pleased Jeff Dittman, DSU's head coach.  "Our defense was outstanding," said Dittman.  "St. Francis finished the (regular) season as the top scoring team in the country, averaging 82 points per game.  We held them 20 points under their average and allowed them to shoot only 25 percent from the field."

     Even though DSU outgunned St. Francis 21-17 in field goals, St. Francis had a 75-percent, 18-of-24, second-half showing at the free throw line to nail down the win.  "St. Francis hit only seven field goals in the second half," added Dittman.  "But, they were able to get to the free throw line for 29 free throw attempts.  Most of those came in the last five minutes when St. Francis opened up an eight-point lead."

     The loss ended the Lady T's Cinderella season at 23-9, while St. Francis' season was extended another 30 hours.  On Saturday, in third-round tournament action, Sioux City's Briar Cliff beat St. Francis 79-73, giving St. Francis a season-ending 32-6 record.  St. Francis had reached the "Final Four" the last five consecutive years.

     As in Thursday's first-round game against Indiana Southeast, DSU took charge of Friday's game early, scoring the first eight points of the ballgame, capped by Erin Nielsen's lay-up with 16:23 left in the first half.

     St. Francis, however, went on a 28-15 scoring tear to tuck in a five-point, 28-23, lead by halftime.  DSU came right back in the opening moments of the second half and took a temporary 35-34 lead on another Nielsen lay-up with 16:13 left in the period.  St. Francis didn't give up and attacked DSU, putting its fortunes on the free throw line.

     DSU got a trio of double-figure scoring from Jennie Sonne, Neilsen and Kathy Shypulski.  Sonne garnered her 12 points on 5-of-8 field goal shooting, while Nielsen and Shypulski each added 10 counters as the pair combined for 7-23 field goal shooting.

Jennie Sonne	Kathy Shypulski	Erin Nielsen

     As a team, the Lady T's went 21-63 from the field but were just 12-21 at the free throw line.  They also had 20 turnovers in the contest.  DSU had a decided 50-31 rebound edge over St. Francis with Hali McClelland hauling in 11 rebounds followed by Sonne and Jessica Honermann with 10 apiece.

Hali McClelland	Jessica Honermann	Heidi Honermann

     "We just couldn't generate enough offense to get a win," said Dittman.  "With our rebounding advantage, we should have been able to score more points.  Also, we shot only 57 percent from the free throw line and that hurt."

     "On the boards, we did a tremendous job.  Hali, Jennie and Jessica all had double-figure rebounds for the game, while Erin grabbed eight and Heidi Honermann six."

     Shannon Dunbar also contributed a team-leading seven rebounds, followed by Eckert and Amy Parrett with six apiece.    

          
     Return to 2000-01 Schedule