Lady T's Escape with N.D. Split
By Dan Holsworth
Madison Daily Leader

     Dakota State University's Lady Trojans escaped North Dakota with a 1-1 split in DAC-10 women's hoops action, edging Mayville State 67-66 Saturday. The win for Jeff Dittman's crew helped DSU rebound from a 78-72 loss Friday to Valley City State in Valley City.

     The split decision left the Lady T's at the 11-4 conference mark and 19-6 overall prior to hosting S.D. Tech Friday and Black Hills State Saturday at the DSU Fieldhouse.

     "We played 36 minutes of great basketball (against Mayville)," said Dittman. "We had them down by 15 at one time and had a chance to put them away, but didn't. Then, in the last four minutes, we got very tentative in our offense and defense. We were playing not to lose, instead of being the aggressor."

Kathy Shypulski	Jessica Honermann

     DSU got double figures scoring from Kathy Shypulski, Jessica Honermann and Jennie Sonne, who earned respective 21-, 17- and 14-point performances.  Honermann had nine rebounds, Sonne eight and Hali McClelland seven.

     "Kathy, Jessica and Jennie had excellent shooting nights," added Dittman. "All three shot 7-for-11 from the field."

Jennie Sonne	Erin Nielsen

     Dittman added, "Defensively, Erin Nielsen did a great job of defending their leading scorer throughout the game and, overall, our defense held Mayville to 33 percent shooting. But, for the second night in a row, we gave up double-digit offensive rebounds to our opponent and that kept Mayville in the game."

     Mayville got 15 points and 10 rebounds from Kassy Anderson, while Missy Charboneau had 18 points and eight rebounds and Jenny Byers scored 10.

Valley City 78, Lady T's 72

     On Friday, a 21-point effort by Sonne, along with Shypulski's 18 points and Jessica Honermann's 11 rebounds, wasn't enough for DSU to overtake Valley City.  Valley City, which played to a 36-all halftime deadlock, outscored DSU 42-36 in the second half.

     Valley City was gifted by Missy Leon's 21 points, along with Michelle Dyck's 16 and Jessica James' 13.  The victors had a 17-20 turnover edge over DSU, which was pivotal to the game's outcome, according to Dittman.

     "Turnovers and giving up too many offensive rebounds (22) helped them to the win," said Dittman. "We gave Valley City 15 extra shots from the field and four extra free throws and they took advantage of it to beat us."