January 20, 2019
Photos credit by Karen Giles
MADISON, S.D. – Waldorf (Iowa) and Dakota State (S.D.) battled back-and-forth with 12 lead changes and eight ties in the highly-scoring affair North Star Athletic Association Women's Basketball action at DSU Fieldhouse Sunday afternoon. The Warriors closed out the game with an 8-4 run in the final 1:54 for an 87-83 victory over the Lady T's.
Dakota State fell to 3-17 overall record and 2-4 record in North Star conference play (seventh place in the NSAA conference standings). Waldorf bumped back to .500 with an 9-9 overall record and 4-3 record in league play (fourth-place in the standings).
Both teams went through two ties and four lead changes in the first ten minutes of the game. Knotted at 12-12, the Lady T's went on a quick 6-0 run on back-to-back 3-pointers from McKenzie Hermanson and Jessi Giles for an 18-12 lead with 3:24 on the clock.
Down 20-14, the Warriors answered back with three straight 3-pointers by Emily Haubrich as part of their 9-0 run for a 23-20 lead with 1:24 to go in the first.
Waldorf held a slim 26-25 lead after the first quarter. The Warriors shot 61.1 percent from the field (11-of-18), while the Lady T's were 58.8 percent (10-of-17).
Neither teams were able to establish the lead in the second quarter. The Lady T's held a four-point lead on several occasions before the Warriors on a scoring run.
With DSU leading 42-38, WU used four different scorers (Ameh Ogbemudia, Kayley Cravens, Michaela Graffunder and Morgan Straight) as part of their 9-0 run for a 47-42 lead with less than a minute to go before intermission.
Alexis Robson made a lay-up with few ticks before halftime as the Lady T's trimmed Warriors' lead at 47-44 by halftime.
Waldorf outscored Dakota State 21-19 in the second quarter. Both teams shot well above 50 percent from the field in the first-half, with WU shooting 54.1 percent (20-of-37) and 6-of-16 3-pointers while DSU was 50 percent (17-of-34) and 6-of-12 from the 3-point line.
Waldorf and Dakota State battled back-and-forth in the third quarter with three ties and four lead changes, with the lead no bigger than four points by the Warriors.
Hermanson bad a basket to give DSU a 59-58 lead with 3:21 to go, but WU answered with a 5-0 run to grab a 63-59 lead with 2:37 in the third.
The Warriors led 65-61 by the end of the third quarter, thanks to their 50 percent shooting from the field (8-of-16) and held the Lady T's to 35 percent (7-of-20).
Ashlyn Macdonald made a basket as DSU trailed at 70-69 with less than eight minutes to go before WU went on another scoring run.
The Warriors went on a 7-0 run, capped with a 3-pointer from Marisela Perez to earn the game's biggest lead at 77-69 with 5:24 remaining.
Dakota State answered back with a 10-2 outburst, with a 3-pointer by Hermanson to record the eighth tie of the game at 79-79 with 2:34 left.
Straight answered back with a 3-pointer as the Warriors regained their lead to 82-79 with less than two minutes left in the game.
The Lady T's could not get any closer than one point at 82-81 after a field goal by Alexis Evans with 1:46 left.
WU went on a 5-0 run to widen their lead to 87-81 and secured the game. Giles made the final basket of the game as DSU fell short by four points.
Both teams scored 22 points in the last ten minutes of the game.
Evans poured in a career-high 20 points on her 8-of-13 field goals for the Lady T's. Giles added 15 points. Hermanson tallied 11 points off the bench.
Taylor Volesky had eight points for DSU. She pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds. She also had seven assists, four steals and recorded a block. Robson had seven points and produced six assists. Kelley Criddle also scored seven points.
Waldorf used a balanced scoring attack with six players scoring in double figures, led by Ogbemudia with 20 points. She was 10-of-16 from the field. Straight had 16 points. Taylor Fricke added 14 points. Emily Haubrich scored 11 points off the bench. Grafunder and Marisela Perez each had 10 points.
Ogbemudia and Haubrich each pulled down six rebounds for WU. Graffunder registered a game-high eight assists. Haubrich stole the ball three times and recorded two blocks.
Waldorf shot 50 percent overall from the field, converting 34 baskets in 68 attempts. The Warriors were 10-of-25 from the 3-point arc. Dakota State was 48.6 percent from the field (34-of-70) and 10-of-23 3-pointers.
WU made 9-of-14 free-throws (64.3 percent) compared to DSU 5-of-7 free-throws (71.4 percent).
The Lady T's outrebounded the Warriors 38-36. Both teams had 10 offensive rebounds, with WU outscoring DSU 14-5 in second-chance points.
Dakota State kicks off the second-half portion of the North Star Athletic Association, facing Viterbo (Wis.) and Waldorf for the second straight weekend. The Lady T's visit VU on Friday evening at 5:30 p.m. at R.W. Beggs Gymnasium in La Crosse, Wis.
Waldorf returns home after their four-game North Star trip, hosting No. 24-ranked Bellevue (Neb.) Friday evening. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. at Hanson Fieldhouse in Forest City, Iowa.
Nick Huntimer, Dakota State University Sports Information Director
