Sioux Falls Ends on a 12-0 to Win, 62-50
Sophomore guard Anna Vaaler scored 23 points and the Sioux Falls Cougars ended the game on a 12-0 run to defeat Nebraska Kearney, 62-50, Tuesday night in South Dakota.
Tied for second in the preseason Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) poll, USF moves to 1-2 while the Lopers fall to 3-3. This was UNK's first trip to Sioux Falls in a decade.
UNK fell behind at the half by a 32-19 score as they were shooting just 21% (6 of 29) from the field. Polish senior Malgorzata Byczkowska hit two threes to lead with USF getting 12 points from sophomore guard Alexis Rose. The Blue & Gold came out of the locker room ready to go as they dominated the third quarter by a 16-9 margin. Diller freshman Myleigh Weers had eight points with the Lopers having a 15-4 edge on the glass.
Having 51 points over the first two games, including 33 in a loss to Fort Hays State, Vaaler got hot in the fourth (11 points) as the Cougs opened a 50-43 lead with just 5:10 left. That's when UNK countered with an 8-0 spurt that featured triples from Byczkowska and Kansas junior Jordan Sears. The 51-50 advantage was the Lopers second of the night.
However, Sioux Falls scored the game's final 12 points thanks to a Vaaler three, jumper and two freebies, a Rose bucket and two freebies and a two-pointer by junior guard Ayla Brown. Meanwhile, UNK missed its last nine shots and committed a turnover.
"We'll have to go back and evaluate the last five minutes of offense for us. Didn't score it well enough in the last couple of minutes and gotta figure out ways to finish that one," said UNK head coach Drew Johnson. "I loved out fight; I thought we fought really hard."
Sioux Falls overcame 25 turnovers by limiting UNK to 30% (19 of 64; 7 of 32 threes) shooting. The Cougs were plus three on the glass, went 12 of 14 at the line and got a combined 41 points from Vaaler and Rose. They were 15 of 28 from the floor, 9 of 10 at the line and grabbed 14 rebounds.
"We flew around a little bit (on defense), got some traps there late which ended in some steals," said Johnson. "But 25 turnovers by us is too many as well. Just kind of trying to figure that all that out."
Lincoln redshirt senior point guard Jillian Aschoff paced the Loper cause (12 points, seven rebounds, five assists) with Byczkowska at nine points and five boards off the bench. Next, Weers had eight with South Dakota redshirt junior post Bailee Sobczak seeing her first action of the season and having four points and two o-boards in seven minutes. However, she left the court due to injury and didn't return.
UNK heads to Augustana (0-2) on Thursday night.