Si Tanka-Huron
prevented a regular-season sweep by Dakota State
University, handing the Lady Trojans a 68-57
setback Thursday in Madison. Earlier this
season, the Lady T's posted an 89-51 victory
over Si Tanka-Huron in the STU Fieldhouse and
the Screaming Eagles returned the favor this
week.
Si Tanka-Huron (10-12 overall and 6-8 in the
DAC-10) had the Lady T's down 32-24 at halftime
and outscored DSU 36-33 in the second half,
sending the Lady T's to 8-6 in the conference
and 15-9 overall.
"This was a disappointing loss for us," said
Lady T's head coach Jeff Ditman. "In the
first half, we couldn't get anything going
offensively, and in the second half, we couldn't
stop them defensively. We came back after
halftime and took a 1-point lead , but Si Tanka
scored on the next five possessions and put us
back in the hole."
DSU had a less-than-solid 20-for-57 field goal
shooting night and 24 turnovers, which
contributed to the Lady T's loss. Stacy
Dunklau was DSU's only double-digit scorer,
notching 11 points, which included 4-of-7 field
goal shooting. Renae Bottom added nine
counters.
The Lady T's, however, had a 45-34 rebound edge
over Si Tanka-Huron with Robin Grinager and
Laura Tewes each swiping the boards for nine
rebounds. Dunklau added eight.
Bottum also contributed four assists, Tewes two
steals and two blocked shots in the game.
Si Tanka-Huron, which outgunned DSU 24-20 in
field goals made, got a game-high 16 points from
Katrina Brooks, followed by Nikki Johnston with
12 and Corrie Villegas' 10. The Screaming
Eagles only had 12 turnovers in the contest.
The Lady T's next play comes Feb. 12 when they
play Jamestown College on the road, followed on
Feb. 13th with the University of Mary in
Bismarck, N.D.
Before those games, Dittman said that the Lady
T's need to work hard in practice. "We've
got to go back to the practice floor next week
and see if we can solve two problems - our slow
starts to games, and our inability to get key
stops on defense," concluded Dittman.
