It came down to who had
the last momentum shift.
Dakota State and Minot
State University battled back
and forth for 40 minutes, but it
was the Lady
T's who finished strong.
DSU outscored the Beavers
13-2 in a key stretch midway
through the second half and held
on to defeat No. 16 MSU 70-63 in
Dakota Athletic Conference
women’s basketball Saturday at
the MSU Dome.
“This
is the game
we expected,” DSU head
coach Jeff Dittman said. “These
are two very good defensive
teams and two
teams that go to the boards very
well. It came down
whose offense could make enough
plays.”
The
Lady T's were the first
team to get things going on
offense as they took an early
seven-point lead at 19-12 on a
basket by Alyssa Kirk with 10:54
to play in the first half. It
was the biggest lead either team
enjoyed in the game.
“I was happy with how we
came out,” Dittman said. “We
were focused
and executed at pretty well at
both ends. In the second
half, Minot had a run and got
the lead but we kept our
composure and made plays at both
ends to regain the lead.”
MSU took its first lead
of the game on a basket by
Tayler McQuilliams two minutes
into the second half. The teams
traded baskets for the next four
minutes before the Beavers went
on a mini run.
MSU
outscored the
Lady T's 9-2 to take a
53-47 lead on a pair of free
throws by Kendra Meyer. But the
lead was short lived as Dakota
State started its big run a
minute after Meyer’s free
throws.
“It seemed like every
time we made a little run we
would shoot ourselves in the
foot,” MSU head coach Sheila
Green Gerding said. “We made
some poor decisions that hurt
our offense.”
MSU didn’t go away down
the stretch, however. After the
Lady T's
built a 60-54 lead, MSU swiped
two straight steals, one by
Jenny Castro that resulted in a
pair of free throws and one by
Meyer that she converted into a
layup, cutting the lead to two.
MSU had two straight possessions
in which they could have tied or
took the lead, but missed short
shots on both.
“How many times did we
have shots roll out?” Green
Gerding said.
After the two missed
opportunities, DSU’s Jessica
VanLoy pushed the lead back to
four points with a huge
offensive rebound putback.
“That
was a
huge
play for us,” Dittman
said of the rebound. “We've
been working at getting our
wings to go to the boards and
Jess went to the middle just
like we've been working on.”
While MSU only gave up
nine offensive rebounds and had
five less turnovers than the
Trojans, it seemed like the
miscues were at crucial times.
“We didn’t do a good job
at times with our perimeter box
out,” Green Gerding said. “And
they went to the boards hard.”
The Trojans (5-2 DAC,
11-8 overall) have now won four
straight on the season, four
straight over the Beavers and
four straight at the Dome. DSU
had solid balance scoring as
five different Trojans finished
with double figures. Jill Hansen
led the way with 14 points,
Laura Tewes added 12, Maria
Gengler and Angela Carr had 11
each and VanLoy with 10. VanLoy,
who was big on the boards on
both ends of the court, finished
with four offensive rebounds and
13 overall.
The Beavers (4-3 DAC,
17-4 overall) also had good
balance as Castro finished with
16, Brittni Walker and Meyer 14
each and Arrita Oler 13.
The two teams face each
other again Friday as the league
flip-flops its schedule with the
Beavers traveling to Madison,
S.D. for a 5:30 p.m. game.
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