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The Red Raiders, Northwestern Iowa's defending NAIA Div. II
champions, put a lid on the Dakota State University Fieldhouse
buckets Saturday, handing the host-team Lady Trojans a 79-53 loss in
the Security Bank Tournament's championship.
"No matter how hard you play defensively, you can't play with a
great team when you shoot that poorly," said Jeff Dittman.
"Northwestern's defense was excellent as the Red Raiders forced
us to take a lot of tough shots. They are fundamentally very sound
and they don't give you anything easy."
Jamie Woudstra and Lindsey Kropf had, respectively, 15 and 10 points
for the champions. Northwestern Iowa led by
a dozen points, 33-21, at the intermission.
Jessica Honermann was the only Lady Trojan to get into double
figures, netting just 10 counters.
"I thought we played hard the first
half and battled through the offensive problems with good defense
and rebounding," added Dittman. "But, as in the last few
road games, we aren't generating enough offense, and this is
frustrating us. We have to learn to be more disciplined in our shot
selection and more patient at getting the shots we can."
DSU staged a second-half rally Friday,
coming back to defeat Northwestern of St. Paul 57-52, to get into
the title tilt. Northwestern Iowa thumped Jamestown College 82-65 in
the Friday's tourney-opener.
Lady
T's 57, Northwestern 52
Honermann was the Lady T's top producer,
netting 20 points, while Mandy Kruger tapped in 10 to account for
the Lady Trojans' double-digit scoring. The Eagles entered
Friday's play at 4-1 and ranked 19th in the NAIA pre-season poll.
"This was a good win for a few
reasons," said Dittman. "First, it helped end a losing
streak, and second, it was against a Top 20 team. And, finally, we
were able to find a way to win when our offense wasn't generating
anything for us."
Jessica DeMars chipped in 13 points to lead
the Eagles' scoring and Amy Enerson had 12.
"We got off to a slow start, but
our defense and rebounding kept us in the game until we got the
offense rolling in the second half," added Dittman.
"Our defense was outstanding throughout the game, giving up
only 26 points each half and holding Northwestern to 39-percent
shooting. We put a lot of pressure on the ball and on the entry pass
as well."
NW Iowa 82,
Jamestown 65
In the opener, Woudstra came through
with a 30-point, 11-rebound explosion. Friedrichsen also tacked on
19 counters to spark the Red Raiders' win.
Sarah McLean topped Jamestown's scoring
with 14 tallies as the Jimmies were left at 0-5.
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