SPEARFISH - A 16-5 scoring outburst in the second half broke open a tight game and Black Hills State recorded a 68-51 win over Chadron State College in non-conference women's basketball action on Saturday evening at the Young Center.
BHSU seniors Snjezana Dojcinovic (14 points) Lindsey Buthe (10) and Lacey Haughian (10) led the Lady Yellow Jackets in double-figure scoring.
Sunni Busch, a sophomore from Mission, paced the Lady Eagles with 15 points. Busch was playing in spite of an ankle injury suffered during CSC's Friday's loss at South Dakota School of Mines.
The BHSU win spoiled the return to Spearfish of Mike Maloney, a former Yellow Jacket men's basketball player and former assistant basketball coach at Lead-Deadwood High School.
Chadron State built a
21-14 edge in the first half.
"We came out flat offensively in the first half," said BHSU coach Mark Nore. BHSU was playing without starting guard Brittany Fuhrman, who sat out the game with an injury. "We were confused with Fuhrman out. Our players didn't know who was going to shoot the ball."
Katelynn Lamb, a freshman from Onida, provided a spark off the Stinger bench, connecting for five straight points, including a 3-pointer. Reserve Alana Dykhouse's two-pointer knotted the score at 21-21 with 3:14 remaining in the half. Buthe's basket handed BHSU a 27-25 halftime lead.
"We challenged the team at halftime," said Nore. "They responded and realized some of the players had to step up
Chelsea DeHaven's basket tied the contest at 31-31 in the early minutes of the second half. BHSU answered with five straight points, including a trey by Lamb, taking the permanent lead at 36-31. The Lady Eagles climbed back to within 36-33 after Samantha Arkulari connected on a hoop.
The Lady Jackets ran off the game's next eight points, pushing the difference to 11 points (44-33). Chadron State got no closer than eight points for the rest of the game.
Coach Nore praised the play of Bayley Chevron and Dykhouse. "Bayley is our most improved player from last year. She's doing great things for us. Alana defended well. She really competes. You can always count on her to get a rebound.
"We wanted to double down on the post, keep the ball out of their inside players' hands and have them beat us from the perimeter," said Maloney. "We played hard, but made a lot of mistakes." Chadron State turned the ball over 28 times. "We give teams a lot of possessions."
The two teams will open play in their respective conferences on Wednesday.
BHSU (8-2) visits arch-rival South Dakota Mines. Chadron State (1-4) hosts Western New Mexico.
