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The second
round of scrimmages are finished and the Lady T's are
now looking forward to the start of the season on
Tuesday night. Coming to Madison will be long-time
rival University of Sioux Falls for a JV game at 5:30
and a varsity contest at 7:30. This will be the
season-opener for both teams.
In the
first scrimmage of the day, DSU matched up with
Concordia College of Nebraska. Concordia reached
the semi-final game of the NAIA National Tournament last
season before losing in overtime to Cedarville College.
However, Concordia graduated seven seniors from last
year's squad so Coach Voss will be bringing along a very
young but talented squad to compete in the Great Plains
Athletic Conference this season.
The two
teams got after each other from start to finish.
It was a very physical game with both defenses
generating momentum. Both Concordia and DSU had
difficulty scoring against each others defense so
rebounding and turnovers became a key to the teams
scoring output. This was an excellent match-up for
Dakota State as Concordia is one of the top man
defensive teams in the country. Dakota State did
find out that they will have to do a better job with
their rebounding fundamentals. Although a smaller
team, Concordia was able to handle the Lady T's at both
the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.
In the
second scrimmage, the Lady T's took on the #1 ranked
Morningside College squad. Morningside is the
two-time defending national champions and look to
have another squad that can challenge for a three-peat.
Although missing two All-Americans by graduation, the
Mustangs continue to rely on their full-court pressure
defense and a very strong running game to dominate
teams.
The Lady
T's played a pretty good game against Morningside but
turnovers proved costly. Three times Dakota State
lost their concentration against the Mustangs press and
they were able to reel off eight or ten point runs.
While Dakota State was able to get a number of second
shot opportunities, turnovers turned out to be the
difference in the game.
So the
pre-season is over and the Lady T's are about to open
the regular season. Some good news for Dakota
State is the return of some key players. Laura
Tewes was cleared to play on Friday so she was able to
get some playing time Saturday and begin her
conditioning process. Angie Carr has missed about
four weeks with a high ankle sprain but is starting to
get back into game shape. With their addition, the
Lady T's will get back some much-needed depth that will
help with the upcoming non-conference season.
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