The immediate future of Dakota State
University's Lady T's is in the hands of the
NAIA Women's Basketball Tournament bid-letters
after Black Hills State stunned DSU 63-49 on
Friday in the DAC Playoffs' semifinals.
"Friday's loss put us in a position where the
only way we enter the NAIA National Tourney is
as an at-large invitee," said DSU Coach Jeff
Dittman.
DSU carried four advantages into Friday's
contest. The Lady T's were the NAIA's
18th-ranked team, co-champs of the DAC, sported
a 20-9 record and were the No. 1 playoffs' seed.
"There are only eight at-large bids which will
be offered," added Dittman. "Our No. 18 ranking
makes us a borderline team for an at-large bid."
Black Hills State, which had suffered a 1-8
record during its final regular-season stretch,
was at 14-15 and the fifth-seeded playoff team.
DSU had beaten the Lady Yellow Jackets twice
during the regular season.
In Friday's game, the Lady T's earned a 28-26
edge over Black Hills State at halftime.
However, BHSU's Lady Yellow Jackets tied
the game at 38-38 on a 3-pointer by Alex Krull
at the 14:40 mark of the second half, and then
went ahead 40-38 on a Becca Walters 2-pointer
two minutes later.
It was a lead that BHSU would not relinquish.
"We expected the kind of game we got Friday,"
said Dittman. "We matched them play for play
for the first 35
minutes of the game, but
couldn't finish."
The Lady Yellow Jackets outscored the Lady T's
13-5 in the last five minutes of the ballgame to
gain a playoffs' championship berth.
Jill Thomas popped in five of her eight
points for BHSU in its scoring run.
"They outplayed us the last five minutes, when
it counted," concluded Dittman. "You have to
make plays down the stretch
to win games. We've
had our share of wins this season by executing
in the final minutes of games, but tonight we
didn't get the job done."
For the night, Angela Carr was DSU's only
double-figure scorer, garnering 15 points on
6-11 field goal shooting, which included three
3-pointers. She also had four assists and three
steals.
The Lady T's, who shot just 34 percent
(19-for-57) from the field, got nine points from
Maria Gengler and seven by Sara Nelson.
Walters and Brittney Klipfel sparked BHSU's
balanced scoring, each getting 11 counters as
the Lady Yellow Jackets went 24-50 from the
field and 11-12 at the charity stripe. Thomas
and Snjezana Dojcinovic had 8-point games for
the winners. Dojcinovic added three steals.
Black Hills State also won the battle of the
boards, swiping 36 rebounds, led by Lacey
Haughian with her nine rebounds and Lael McVea
with six. McVea also had five assists.
Laura Tewes had six rebounds and Gengler five
for the Lady T's.
Black Hills State will play Minot State Monday
(tonight) at Minot, N.D.
Minot State trimmed Jamestown College 56-53 in
the conference's other semifinal.
Minot, the playoffs' second-seeded team,
had tied DSU 10-4 for the conference title and
is at 18-11 entering Monday's game.
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