Spearfish, S.D. – The Black Hills State women's basketball team had three players score double digits in BHSU's inaugural RMAC victory over Western State 65-50 on Friday night.  

"For us, it was a huge win. First conference win; we made history from a women's basketball standpoint tonight," said head coach Mark Nore.

Calli Bechtel and Bailey Kusser each had a team-high 13 points, and Cassidy Kotelman added 10. Dakota Barrie spread the ball around for a team-high four assists

The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a quick 11-0 lead before Western State called a timeout at 15:25. The Mountaineers did not score their first points until the 13:18 mark and the Yellow Jackets led 20-5 with 10:20 remaining in the first half. Western State was able string together some runs, but the Yellow Jackets countered and led 36-21 going into half. All eight players that touched the floor for the Yellow Jackets scored. Bechtel led the Yellow Jackets with seven points, including hitting 2-of-2 from behind the arc. BHSU shot 65.2 percent (15-of-23) from the floor and held the Mountaineers to 34.6 percent (9-of-26).

The Yellow Jackets were able to hold a substantial lead halfway through the second half at 48-34. The Mountaineers went on a run to bring the lead into single-digits with 5:44 remaining. Lamb hit a big jump shot on the baseline with 2:48 remaining to put the Jackets up 57-44. Nine points was as close as Western would get as the Yellow Jackets secured the 15-point victory.

"We obviously need to take care of the ball better, but I thought we tried to make the extra pass, make plays," said Nore. "I thought we got good looks, we shot a good percentage and our gals stepped-up and made shots."

The Yellow Jackets owned the boards with 30 rebounds to Western's 19. Cassidy Kotelman led the rebounding efforts with five, Lamb and Barrie added four.

"I was really proud of how we boxed out and I thought we did a nice job on the glass," said Nore. "We made plays that we needed to.  They would make a run and it seemed that any time they got it under 10 (points), our gals made a play."

The Yellow Jackets shot 53.5 percent to the Mountaineers' 44.7 percent.  The Yellow Jackets missed just one free throw (8-of-9) on the ball game.

The Yellow Jackets will try and carry the momentum into tomorrow's matchup against Colorado Mesa at 5:30 p.m. in Spearfish.