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Undergoing their early-season adjustments, Dakota State
University's Lady Trojans suffered their fourth loss of the year,
an 82-73 setback to the University of Sioux Falls, Tuesday at
USF's Stewart Center.
USF's Lady Cougars won the game at the
charity stripe, converting 29 of 44 tries into points. DSU
(2-4) was only 14-21 at the free throw line.
"That turned out to be too big a
deficit to overcome," admitted Jeff Dittman, DSU's head
women's basketball coach. "We have to eliminate the
unnecessary fouls and keep opponents off the free throw line. Some
fouls are good because they are the result of hard play and
calculated risks. But, some are the result of concentration
lapses. Those are the ones we have to reduce."
Jennie Sonne, the Lady Trojans' center,
was DSU's bright spot on offense, garnering 17 points. Three other
Lady T's -- Mandy Kruger, Molly Hathaway and Hali McClelland --
earned double-figures scoring.
Kruger produced 11 points, while Hathaway and McClelland each had
10 as the Lady T's outgunned Sioux Falls 29-24 from the field.
Their scoring, coupled by pesky defense, helped ease the pain for
Dittman. "While we picked up a loss, I saw improvement
last night," added Dittman. "We had 14 steals which led
to 20 fastbreak points. We have not been pressuring as well
lately, and that has been a big part of our scoring problem. We
also saw better use of our inside game. Our posts had a size
advantage, and we were able to get them the basketball much more
consistently."
USF was led by Courtney Farrell who had a
20-point night. Steph Austin added 16 points and Jill Austin
12. The Lady Cougars outrebounded DSU 47-36 with Farrell and
Steph Austin each claiming 10 caroms.
DSU got six rebounds from Jessica
Honermann and four apiece from Sonne, Hathaway and Trisha
Grablander.
DSU takes on Northwestern Minnesota
Friday in first-round play of the Security Bank Invitational at
the DSU Fieldhouse Friday at 8 p.m.
Northwestern Iowa takes on Jamestown College at 6 p.m. in Friday's
early game. The tournament concludes Saturday with third- and
first-place games at, respectively, 1 and 5 p.m.
Return
to 2000-01 Schedule
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