January 13, 2017
OMAHA, Neb. – The Dakota State (S.D.) University Lady T's basketball team never trailed in the game Friday evening, cruising past Grace (Neb.) 78-55 in a non-conference game at Jim Classen Gymnasium. The Lady T's also drained a season-high 11 3-pointers, snapping their four-game losing skid.
Dakota State improved to 4-14 overall record. Grace fell to 6-15 overall record.
The Lady T's raced to an 8-0 opening lead, thanks to two straight 3-pointers by Kennedy Wagner and a basket by Cassie Jones. The Royals were forced to take their first timeout of the game with six minutes and fifty seconds on the clock in the first period.
Britley Plautz made a field goal to give DSU its biggest lead of the first quarter at 20-9 with 38 seconds left. GU cut Lady T's lead down to 20-11 by the end of the first quarter. Dakota State shot 56.3 percent from the field (9-of-16) in the first ten minutes compared to Grace 26.7 percent field goal shooting (4-of-15).
The Lady T's maintained its double-digit lead almost the entire second quarter, before the Royals closed the first-half with a 3-pointer by Raylene Amador. DSU held a 33-26 halftime advantage.
GU stretched its scoring run into the third quarter, making a 7-0 run to cut DSU's lead by 33-30 with 9:07 on the clock. The Royals could get no closer than three points as the Lady T's stormed past GU for the rest of the game.
DSU held a 51-43 lead by the end of the third quarter and outscored the Royals 27-12 in in the final quarter to secure the victory.
BreeAna Olson poured in a game-high 21 points for the Lady T's. She was 9-of-17 from the field, including 3-of-7 from the 3-point line. Lindsey Vogl scored 13 points off the bench, where she shot 5-of-7 from the field and 3-of-5 3-pointers. Jones tallied 10 points. Wagner added nine points. Kelley Criddle had six points. Jamie Tebben, Plautz, Shemika Frazier and Shelby Vogel each had four points.
Tebben grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds for Dakota State. Olson and Criddle each collected six rebounds.
Wagner and Frazier each contributed seven assists for DSU. Tebben dished out three assists. Olson recorded four steals. Vogel had two steals.
Diane Ouedrago led the Royals with 15 points. Kayla Bloodworth added 11 points and registered six blocked shots in the game. Raylene Amador had 10 points.
Bloodworth pulled down nine rebounds for Grace. Darrielle Evans had seven rebounds and three steals.
Dakota State shot a season-high 44.4 percent from the field, making 32 field goals in 72 attempts. The Lady T's also hit a season-high 50 percent from the 3-point arc, draining 11 3-pointers in 22 tries. Grace was 17-of-53 from the field (32.1 percent) and 2-of-9 3-pointers.
The Royals were 19-of-29 free-throws compared to the Lady T's 3-of-8 from the free-throw line.
DSU outrebounded GU 48-35. The Lady T's outscored the Royals 36-20 inside the paint and 30-10 in bench points.
Dakota State resumes their North Star Athletic Association conference play Saturday afternoon. The Lady T's visit Bellevue (Neb.) at Gordon Lozier Center. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. as DSU wraps up their first-half portion of the NSAA conference schedule in Bellevue, Neb.
Nick Huntimer, Dakota State University Sports Information Director
