Lady T's Stay in DAC-10 Playoffs
By Dan Holsworth
Madison Daily Leader

Jeff Dittman's Dakota State University Lady Trojans staged a shooting exhibition in the first half on the DSU Fieldhouse hardwood to crush Valley City State University 76-59 Wednesday.     The victory lifted the 22-7 Lady T's into second-round DAC-10 Playoff action Sunday at 5 p.m., also at the Fieldhouse, against Mayville State University.      Wednesday night, the Lady T's got behind the inside-outside shooting of Jennie Sonne and Kathy Shypulski to put on a 49-point first-half scoring show. They seared the Fieldhouse's north net for 64-percent, 21-33 field goal shooting.      Sonne worked the inside game for 12 of her 14 game points on 6-9 field goal shooting, while Shypulski nailed what proved to be all of her 15 counters from the outside, which included 3-of-6 three-point shooting.

Kathy Shypulski (left) launches a jumper just over the outstretched hands of Valley City State's Andrea Walton (40) in the Lady T's 76-59 win over VCSU here Wednesday in DAC-10 Playoff action.

     Also in the period, Erin Nielsen collected eight points and Jessica Honermann added six as the Lady T's forged a 22-point, 49-27, intermission cushion.

     DSU opened a 31-point, 62-31, gap in the early stages of the second period before Dittman shuttled in reserves for the remainder of the ballgame, enabling Valley City State to outscore the Lady T's 32-27. That resulted in cutting DSU's lead down to 17 points by game's end.

     "We did an excellent job the first 30 minutes of the game," said Dittman. "We held Valley City to 27 points the first half while scoring 49. We held VC to only one offensive board, while getting 10 second-chance points. And, we ran the floor very well, getting 22 points in fastbreak lay-ups."

      Natalie Birchem tallied 12 of her game-long 13 points in VCSU's second half, which also saw Michelle Dyck net eight of her game-high 19 points.

     DSU's defense shut down Molly Anderson, one of VCSU's scoring weapons, to just six points. Anderson had averaged almost 18 points a ballgame and had led the Lady Vikes in scoring entering Wednesday's game

     Shypulski and Nielson came away with 15 points apiece as four Lady T's entered double-figures scoring. Sonne wound up with 14 points and Hali McClelland 10. Honermann also had nine tallies for the victors.  Shypulski also had five assists and Honermann had three steals for the Lady T's.

     "Individually, Erin did a great job at both ends of the court," said Dittman. "She held Valley City's top scorer to only six points, while scoring her 15 on 7-9 shooting from the field. Kathy had another great first half, scoring 15 and getting us off to a great start. On the inside, Jennie scored 14 points on 6-9 shooting, Hali hit for 10 and Jessica nine."

     DSU ended up with 52-percent, 30-58 field goal figures. The Lady T's, however, were just 12-25 at the free-throw line.

     Off the boards, DSU had a decided 41-32 rebound edge over the Lady Vikings with Sonne and Nielson each grabbing eight rebounds. McClelland also had six caroms.  Valley City got eight by Dyck.

          
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