SPEARFISH, S.D. – Black Hills State University women’s basketball dropped a heartbreaker to South Dakota Mines, 60-61 Thursday night at the Young Center.
Seniors Racquel Wientjes and Morgan Ham made up the bulk of the scoring leading the Yellow Jackets with 20 and 11 points apiece, respectively.
In the first quarter of play the Yellow Jackets started out hot scoring 18 seconds into the game on a Megan Engesser layup. However, the team would slow down on scoring following that layup and fall behind by seven points 7-14 with under 4 minutes left to play in the quarter at which point BHSU would go on a 9-2 scoring run that would run into the second quarter of play.
Following their scoring run the Yellow Jackets would find themselves up by eight points leading the Hardrockers 28-20 with just over two minutes to play in the half. Both teams would get a few more points on the board before the break leaving the score heading into half 30-24 in favor of BHSU.
Both teams would slow down in scoring in the third quarter as the defenses heated up until a 3-pointer by South Dakota Mines’ Ryan Weiss followed by a layup by Mines’ Makenna Bodette would tie the game at 38 all. The teams would then trade a few more points back and forth before a 3-pointer by Ashlee Beacom with 26 seconds left in the quarter would give BHSU a 47-44 lead heading into the break.
BHSU would hold onto that lead until there were 5 minutes left in regulation at which point South Dakota Mines’ Michaela Shaklee would sink a 3-pointer tying the game at 52 all. The Yellow Jackets would grab the lead back with a 3-pointer by Niki Van Wyk and hold that lead until there were 23 seconds left in regulation. The Hardrockers would take the lead by one on free throws before a layup by Wientjes would put BHSU back on top with 13 seconds to play. Two more free throws in the final 8 seconds of play by South Dakota Mines would put them up by one to set up the final of 60-61.
Leading the way for BHSU on defense was senior Katie Messler who pulled in six boards and recorded three steals. Wientjes was also a standout on defense pulling in five boards and a steal.
As a team the Jackets shot 40.7% (22-of-54) from the field and 36.4% (8-of-22) from beyond the arc. The Yellow Jackets made 8 of their 14 free throws making them 57.1% from the charity stripe.
