February 21, 2018

MAYVILLE, N.D. – Fifth-seeded Dakota State (S.D.) opened up the North Star Athletic Association Women's Basketball Postseason Tournament by pouring 19 points in the first five-plus minutes of the game at Lewy Lee Fieldhouse Wednesday evening.  Mayville State (N.D.), fourth-seeded in the conference postseason, used a second-half surge by outscoring the Lady T's 54-30 to earn an 83-68 victory.

The loss ended Dakota State's season with a 12-19 overall record and 8-8 record in league play.  Mayville State will move on to the semifinal round versus the top-seeded Jamestown (N.D.), who cruised past No. 8 seed Waldorf (Iowa) 100-39, on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Jamestown, N.D.

The Lady T's scored the first four points of the game and stormed to a 19-4 lead over the Comets with 4 minutes, 39 seconds on the clock.

DSU held a 23-13 lead by the end of the first period. 

Mayville State would trim Dakota State's lead down to 25-21 with 5:55 on the clock in the second period, forcing the Lady T's to burn one of their timeout.  The Lady T's answered back by scoring four straight points to stretch their lead to 30-21 with 4:43 left before halftime.

Dakota State held at 38-29 lead at halftime, thanks to their blazing 56 percent shooting from the field (14-of-25 field goals).  The Comets were held to 33.3 percent from the field (11-of-33 field goals).

With DSU leading 40-31 in the third quarter, MSU went on to score 12 straight points to earn their first lead of the game at 43-40 with 6:25 on the clock.

The Comets outscored the Lady T's 28-17 in the third period to earn a 57-55 lead.

Mayville State kicked off the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run to earn a 65-55 lead with 8:15 to go in the game.  Dakota State could get no closer than eight points at 65-57 as the Comets maintained control for the rest of the game.

MSU outscored DSU 26-13 in the final ten minutes of the game.  The Comets were 48.3 percent from the field (14-of-29) in the second-half, while holding the Lady T's to 25.8 percent (8-of-31).

Britley Plautz led the Lady T's with 18 points and grabbed 9 rebounds.  She was 7-of-9 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line.  Jamie Tebben scored 16 points off the bench.  She converted 8-of-10 free-throws.

Kennedy Wagner added 17 points, where she was 8-of-10 at the free-throw line for Dakota State.  She became the all-time best free-throw percentage in Lady T's basketball record book, recording an amazing 80.9 percent (296-of-366 free-throws).  Wagner broke the previous record set by former NAIA All-American Kathy Shpulski with a career free-throw percentage of 79.7 (208-of-261) from 1997-2001.

Wagner dished out four assists in the game for the Lady T's.

Raven Patton tallied seven points and seven rebounds for DSU.  Plautz registered three blocks in the game, while Patton and Alexis Evans each added two blocks.  Lindsey Vogl stole the ball twice.

Andi Gayner poured in a game-high 37 points on her 11-of-21 field goal shooting and 12-of-14 free-throws for Mayville State.  She had six rebounds.  Karleigh Weber added 19 points.  Naomi Torgerson had 16 points and six rebounds.

Joelle Ertl scored seven points, dished out six assists and stole the ball four times for the Comets. 

Mayville State shot 40.3 percent overall from the field (25-of-62) compared to Dakota State 39.3 percent (22-of-56).  The Comets were 9-of-23 from the 3-point arc (39.1 percent), while the Lady T's were 3-of-13 3-pointers (20 percent).

MSU made 24 free-throws in 30 tries (80 percent).  DSU went to the free-throw line 26 times, converting 21 free-throws (80.8 percent).

The Lady T's outrebounded the Comets 39-33 in the game.  DSU outscored MSU 22-2 in bench points.

It was the final career collegiate basketball game for three Dakota State Lady T's – Shemika Frazier, Shelby Vogel and Wagner.

Nick Huntimer, Dakota State University Sports Information Director