Taylor University wasn't too
kind to the team that had to win
in order for the Lady Trojans to
make the NAIA Division II
women's basketball
tournament.
No. 22 Taylor pulled the
first surprise of the
tournament, turning back No. 16
Dakota State 67-56 in an
opening-round game Wednesday at
the Tyson Events Center.
Katie Madden scored 12
points and grabbed 11 rebounds
for Taylor, a No. 6 seed which
improved its record to 21-11.
Jenny Dawes added 12 points for
the Lady Trojans, who shot 50
percent from the field.
Ironically, Taylor earned
an at-large berth after Dakota
State defeated South Dakota
Mines in the championship game
of the Dakota Athletic
Conference Tournament. However,
the Lady Trojans' record was
deceiving, thanks in part to the
rugged competition in the
Mid-Central College Conference.
Taylor, which suffered
eight of its losses to teams
ranked in the top five, was the
fourth qualifier from the MCC,
which also produced unbeaten
Indiana Wesleyan, as well as
Bethel and St. Francis. Indiana
Wesleyan and St. Francis are
each No. 1 seeds.
While Taylor was having
its way offensively, Dakota
State struggled from the field,
shooting just 32.9 percent.
Jill Hansen, one of four
junior starters for the Lady
T's, finished with 16 points
while junior Maria Gengler came
off the bench to contribute 12
points and a team-high nine
rebounds.
"Dakota State is a very,
very good team," said Taylor
Coach Tena Krause. "I didn't
know how we'd come out tonight
since they were so big.
I knew we were going to
have to take care of the ball
and play good defense. If we
could do that and box out I
thought we could hang in there
and play with them."
Trailing 13-10 with 11:49
left in the first half, Taylor
went on an 11-0 run to take
control. Another 9-0 spurt
before intermission helped the
Lady Trojans surge to a 39-25
halftime cushion.
Dakota State trailed by
as many as 22 points, 50-28, and
tried to fight back in the
second half, but had too big of
a hole to dig out of. The Lady
T's never cut it to single
digits in the second half.
"When you're playing
against
number one, three and
four all season, that should do
something for you," said
Taylor's Krause. "I thought that
really helped prepare us for
this game tonight."
"When you attack a zone,
one of the primary rules is you
have to have a little patience
against it," said Dakota State
Coach Jeff Dittman. "I know we
were getting good shots, but we
weren't getting good rebound
position so
we probably shot a little sooner
than we
should have.
"We certainly weren't
making them work at all on
defense and defense is a tiring
task. I think we played into
their hands a little bit and we
didn't play as smart as
we are
capable."
Dakota State, which
finished 22-11, reached the
Elite Eight of last year's
tournament.
The Lady T's shot just 26
percent in the first half while
Taylor shot 56 percent.
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