Lady T's gain USF Classic split
By Dan Holsworth
Madison Daily Leader

     DSU on Friday suffered a razor-thin 69-67 defeat to Northwestern (Iowa) College to open the season in the USF Classic.  On Saturday, DSU (1-1) got double-figures scoring from Maria Gengler, Angela Carr, Renae Bottum and Amanda Zephier.

     "Maria did another excellent job in the middle, scoring 19 points and grabbing 12 rebounds," said Dittman. "Angie came off the bench and did a good job at the point position, reading the defense, running the offense and scoring 18 points herself.  Amanda also came off the bench to score in double figures, netting 10 points, which included going 4-for-4 from the field."
 

     "This was the second game in two days we needed to test our depth," added Dittman. "Not only did our starters come back and play better than the day before, but our bench provided a tremendous spark for us as well."  DSU had a 41-37 rebound edge over the Lady Cougars as Gengler completed a double-double with 12 rebounds.

     Dittman was pleased that the Lady T's defended the perimeter well.  "USF has a tremendous shooting team from behind the three-point line, but we were able to hold them to 25-percent field goal accuracy," said Dittman.

     DSU, however, had to counter a stellar performance by Courtney Farrell. She pumped in 33 points and tacked on 15 rebounds.  "This was the second day in a row we had an All-American score 30-plus points against us," added Dittman. "We are going to have to figure out how to do a better job, but our overall defensive effort was still pretty good."

     USF's next-highest scorer was Sarah Haynes, who had nine points, and Kristin Kono and Krista Orsack had eight apiece.

     DSU, which led 43-37 at halftime, outgunned USF 33-22 in field goals, but the Lady Cougars outscored DSU 19-12 at the charity stripe.

DSU 67
Northwestern (IA) 69

     On Friday, Northwestern got 36 points from Deb Remmerde to help get by the Lady T's.  DSU, however, limited Northwestern to an eight-point game by Jaime Hoegh. Miranda Boekhout added seven points and Amy Larson six.

     Laura Tewes, Sara Nelson and Bottum gave the Lady T's double-figures scoring.  Tewes bucketed 13 points, while Bottum and Nelsen each scored 10 points.

     The game was deadlocked 37-37 at halftime.

     "We played pretty well for our season opener," said Dittman.  "We needed to play a little better defense in the first half, and we should have scored a little more in the second half.  But overall, considering how talented Northwestern is, I thought we competed well against a nationally-ranked opponent."  Northwestern was the #16-ranked team in the NAIA's preseason polls.

     Defensively, DSU forced the Red Raiders into 29 turnovers, resulting in a lot of open-court baskets for the Lady T's.  "If we are going to be successful this year, having a defense that can create offense will be one of the keys," concluded Dittman.