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Dakota Wesleyan women roll Flames for home victory on Senior Day

the daily republic, mitchell, s.d.
·4 min read

Feb. 17—MITCHELL — Dakota Wesleyan University women's basketball cruised to a Senior Day victory on Saturday afternoon over last-place College of Saint Mary 87-58 in Great Plains Athletic Conference play.

Twelve different Tigers scored in the game, in which DWU led by as many as 30 points in the second half at the Corn Palace, moving DWU to 11-1 in home games this season and handing the Flames their 24th loss in a row this season.

"Defensively, we were pretty good," DWU coach Jason Christensen said. "We created some turnovers on defense and we set the pace, we made them play faster than they wanted to. I think that was probably the biggest thing that got us going in the game."

DWU's Emma Yost had 21 points on 9-for-16 shooting, continuing her standout freshman season. Morgan Edelman had 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Rylee Rosenquist added 12 points and Maleighya Estes scored eight points off the bench for the Tigers (19-7, 14-6 GPAC).

"She was one of the posts who finished down low for us," Christensen said. "She needs to be a scorer for us and we've encouraged her to be a little more selfish when she's close to the basket. She's been great for us and she's bought in fully to what we're doing."

The Tigers broke out to a 16-5 lead in the first quarter and while the Flames got to within five points at the end of the first period, DWU outscored CSM 30-10 in the second quarter to pull away for good. DWU outscored CSM 48-34 in the paint and 28-7 in second-chance points but Christensen said there were some points left out there for the Tigers on offense.

"I'm happy we won but I didn't think we gave our best effort. When you miss 26 shots in the paint, that's 52 points we left on the board," Christensen said. "We'll need to get better with that and with our team, we're trying to teach them to get up for every game. You don't want to go through the motions and I think we did that a little. I know the score was lopsided but I know we can play better, and that's part of our young team learning."

The Tigers shot 43.8% from the field, were 4-for-15 on 3-pointers and finished 13-for-16 on free throws. The lowly Flames, who only had seven players in action on Saturday, were led by 18 points from Aliegha Jackson. CSM (1-24, 0-20 GPAC) committed 21 turnovers in the loss, with 16 of those in the first half.

The Tigers honored Anna Campbell, Isabel Ihnen and Mya Wilson as its three seniors prior to the game. Christensen said there's a chance that Wilson and Isabel Ihnen will return next season for a fifth year, while Campbell is headed for optometry school after graduating from DWU.

They're special kids," Christensen said. "They've done a lot for us and they're going to go do great things in their lives. They've been a great group for us because they're always leading for us, especially off the court."

DWU will host No. 1-ranked Dordt at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 21 in the team's home regular-season finale.

Dakota Wesleyan women 87, College of Saint Mary 58

College of St. Mary (1-24, 0-20 GPAC): Madison Camden 4-4 3-4 13 ShyAnne Mayhue 4-10 0-0 8 Madelyn Gaughen 0-1 2-2 2 Aleigha Jackson 7-18 3-5 18 Tia Murray 5-10 1-2 11 Chainey Thompson 2-5 2-2 6 Jazmyne Villalobos 0-3 0-0 0 Totals 22-51 11-15 58.

Dakota Wesleyan (19-7, 14-6 GPAC): Taliyah Hayes 1-6 4-6 6 Morgan Edelman 4-9 2-2 12 Mya Wilson 1-1 0-0 2 Emma Yost 9-16 3-4 21 Shalayne Nagel 3-8 0-0 6 Grace Fryda 1-8 0-0 2 Jaida Young 0-3 0-0 0 Tyra Gates 1-1 0-0 2 Maleighya Estes 4-6 0-0 8 Rylee Rosenquist 5-7 2-2 12 Abby Bramer 0-0 0-0 0 Anna Campbell 3-10 0-0 7 Lacey Sprakel 2-4 0-0 4 Addy Kramer 1-1 2-2 5 Totals 35-80 13-16 87.

CSM 13 23 37 58

DWU 18 48 67 87

3-point field goals: CSM 3-17 (Camden 2-2, Jackson 1-8, Thompson 0-3, Gaughen 0-1), DWU 4-15 (Edelman 2-3, Campbell 1-1, Kramer 1-1, Fryda 0-6, Hayes 0-4), Rebounds: CSM 27 (Jackson 6, Mayhue 5, Gaughen 5), DWU 50 (Edelman 10, Rosenquist 7, Yost 6). Total fouls: CSM 12, DWU 14. Fouled out: none. Turnovers: CSM 21, DWU 9. Assists: CSM 7 (Mayhue 2, Gaughen 2, Jackson 2), DWU 20 (Hayes 5). Steals: CSM 7 (Murray 3), DWU 12 (Edelman 3). Blocks: CSM 4 (Murray 4), DWU 2 (Young 1, Campbell 1).