Northern Women Take 66-44 Win In Opener

MITCHELL, SD - The Northern State women's basketball team pulled off a 22 point win in their first test of the season, defeating Dakota Wesleyan 66-44 in Mitchell, SD. The Wolves dominated the Tigers in the paint and took advantage of DWU turnovers to gain the win.

The Wolves shot 45.8% from the field in the first half and kept Dakota Wesleyan to just 13 points in the first 20 minutes. They got off just 24 shots, however, and scored only 33 points of their own, leading to a 33-13 halftime score. There were just ten points scored in the first seven minutes of the game, five from each team. The Wolves then began to open the game up with an 8-0 run, scoring all of their field goals in the paint. NSU’s game plan was clear: get the ball to the big players down low. All but two of Northern’s first 26 points came from Carolin Becker, Miranda Boepple, or Noelle Hall. Boepple scored 12 of her 14 points in the first half and even drained a three-pointer.

While NSU’s top guns were the story of the first half, some of the team’s lesser-known players took control of the scoring in the second half. The Wolves opened up a 28 point lead by the 16:44 mark of the final half and had at least a 20 point edge for the remainder of the game. The healthy lead gave way to increased court time from the bench, and before the game would end, 12 Wolves would finish with at least ten minutes played. Junior Claire Honer drained a long ball to put the Wolves up 48-16 at the 12:50 mark, while freshman Casey Gifford scored buckets on back-to-back NSU possessions to maintain a 27 point lead with five minutes left to play. The Wolves finished the night with a 22 point lead over the Tigers and kept their opponent to just one field goal in the final four minutes of the game, claiming the 66-44 win.

One of the main reasons that NSU did not post more points in the game was because they struggled to take care of the ball. The team had 11 turnovers in the first half alone and finished the game with 18. And while DWU only converted these turnovers into six points, the Wolves lost valuable scoring opportunities with each mistake. Their shooting slipped to a mark of 37.1% in the second half to bring the final game figure to 37.1%. DWU shot even worse, hitting just 18.2% of shots in the first half and 24.5% in the game.

The Wolves were led by Becker with 17 points and five rebounds, followed by Boepple with 14 points and Hall with a team high seven rebounds. NSU hit only two three-pointers in the game, and both came at the hands of forwards. The Wolves had the lead in the rebounding department, however, grabbing 47 boards to DWU’s 37.

The Tigers were led in scoring by Jennifer Pommer with eight points. Adria Pazour led her team with six rebounds. Dakota Wesleyan had 24 turnovers on the night, but came up with 12 steals.

The win sets Northern’s season record at 1-0, while DWU falls to 2-3 overall. The Wolves will resume play this weekend at the Colorado Christian Tournament. They will take on tournament host CCU at 7:00 pm on Friday and will face the Colorado School of Mines on Saturday at 4:00 pm. Both game times are Mountain Time.

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