MARSHALL, Minn. -
Northern State used an
11-0 run midway through the first half to break
open a tight game and went on to a 68-54 college
women's basketball win over Dakota State on
Friday night.
The game was the first of two in the opening
round of the Hardee's/Coca-Cola Classic, hosted
by Southwest Minnesota State University.
Noelle Hall, the reigning Northern Sun
Intercollegiate Conference Player of the Week,
scored six of her game-high 28 points during the
run, as the Wolves turned a one-point deficit
into a 10-point lead.
Up until that point, the teams had traded
baskets and the lead several times in a
fast-paced start to the game. Northern coach
Curt Fredrickson gave credit to the Trojans, who
managed to match the Wolves basket-for-basket
early on.
“Dakota State has a good ball club. They are
ranked in the NAIA and have a bunch of seniors
that know what they're doing,” said Fredrickson.
The Trojans trimmed the lead to as little as two
points at 34-32 after a pair of free throws from
Jill Hansen. Hall provided the spark again for
the Wolves, scoring the next five NSU points to
cushion the lead. The teams went to the half
with the Wolves up by five.
Northern opened the second half with another
rally, with a Jaclyn Arns three-point field goal
pushing the lead back to 10 at 50-40 and leading
to a Dakota State timeout.
Laura Tewes, who led DSU with 17 points and 10
rebounds, hit back-to-back baskets to get DSU
back to within six with 11:45 remaining, the
closest the Trojans would be the rest of the
game. The Wolves' largest lead of the game was
64-49.
Hall, who also pulled down 11 rebounds, led
three NSU players in double figures. Jaclyn Arns
added 16 points and Amanda Glenz finished with
10. Fredrickson pointed out that the Wolves got
some quality minutes from Brittany Euerly, who
played 29 minutes, scoring four points and
getting three rebounds.
“We did a better defensive
job with Hall the second half than we did the
first,” said DSU Coach
Jeff Dittman. "In the first half, she had
19 of their 41 points and hit almost every shot
she took."
"Offensively, we hurt ourselves with our
turnovers and our dependence on the jump shot in
the last twelve minutes of the game. We
went cold from the field and forgot to attack
the basket. We lost our composure for a
few minutes and it cost us our chance at winning
the game."
Even with the victory, the Wolves still have
areas they need to work on, the NSU coach said.
“As for negatives, we had 21 turnovers and were
2-for-7 from the free-throw line,” said
Fredrickson. “We haven't shot very well from the
line this season. We need to shoot better from
the line and learn to hold onto the ball.”
