Lady T's Race by VCSU,
Advance in DAC Playoffs

By Dan Holsworth, Sports Editor

Dakota State University's Lady T's stayed on target for another trip to the NAIA Women's Tournament at Sioux City in March, after downing Valley City State 88-59 in the first round of the DAC Postseason Playoffs on Sunday. Sunday's win was the Lady T's 20th victory this year, compared to nine losses.  In other first-round action, it was: Mayville 85, S.D. School of Mines 52; Black Hills State 86, Dickinson State 64; and Jamestown College 67, Minot State 52. This also marks the sixth season that the Lady T's have had 20 wins or more out of the last nine years.  The Lady T's went through some ragged shooting in the first half before finding their range in the game's final 20 minutes at the DSU Fieldhouse. No. 1-seeded DSU led No. 8 seed Valley City State 39-31 at halftime.  The Lady T's made just 16 field goals in the first half, and that included a slight 2-for-8 performance beyond the 3-point arc. "We got good looks at the basket, but we just didn't hit our shots in the first half," said Dittman.  In the second half, the Lady T's made 47 percent of their field goals, going 20-43, and mounted a 49-28 scoring surge to nail down the win. "Our team hung in there and got the offensive rebounds, and in the second half, we got our second-chance shots to drop," said Dittman. "We didn't shoot particularly well from the perimeter, which has been a real strength for us the past three weeks. " Spearheading the Lady T's offense was Jessica VanLoy, whose 11-19 field goal shooting helped her score 25 of the Lady T's 88 points. "Jessica has been on a mission this year," stated Dittman.  "The one thing she had been missing, until this year, was having big scoring nights. This year she had been attacking the basket a lot better. She is a lot more of a scoring threat, which poses problems for other teams' defenses." VanLoy just missed a double-double when she ended up with nine rebounds. Defensively, she stole the ball five times. The Lady T's only other double-figures scorer was Laura Tewes, who went 5-6 and had two free throws for a total of 12 points. She also had eight rebounds, as did Tricia Boldt. Despite scoring only six points, Maria Gengler blocked five Valley City shots and earned two steals and two assists.  Angela Carr and Jill Hansen each added seven points. Carr also had three assists and three steals. DSU's defense limited Valley City State (5-23) to just 30-percent, 21-71, field goal shooting, with Terr Billiet garnering 10 points for the Lady Vikes.  Jessica Tykwinski and Jodi Durrer had nine points each.On Wednesday, DSU is hosting #4 seed Mavyille State while seed #6Jamestown will be in Spearfish taking on #2 Black Hills State. Return to 2007-08 Schedule