RAPID CITY, S.D. – After the Yellow Jackets used aggressiveness on both ends of the court to jump out to an early 22-9 lead before taking a 37-25 halftime advantage – it was the South Dakota School of Mines Hardrockers who made the late comeback to take the victory on Saturday night, 61-56.
BHSU junior guard, Chelsey Biegler, led the way early-and-often as she finished the half with 10 points to help her team to an impressive 5-of-8 three-point shooting performance (62.5%) in the first half alone, while SDSM shot just 38.5% with just two 3-point shots as a team in the opening 20 minutes.
The second half, however, told a different story as SDSM improved to shoot almost 48-percent from the field on 11-of-23 shooting while forcing the Jackets to 14 second-half turnovers. SDSM's Devyn Asche had 15 points in the half to give her a game-high 24 points.
The shots simply wouldn't fall for BHSU in the second half as they went 0-for-10 from beyond the arch and 4-of-24 from the field (16.7%). By games end, the Yellow Jackets shot 33.3-percent (18-54 FG), and went 5-of-18 from 3-point range.
Junior guard, Dakota Barrie, was the Jackets leading scorer as she finished the game with 14 points on 4-of-9 shooting (6-6 FT) to go with an impressive seven rebounds and five steals. Barrie is now averaging 11.4 points over the last five games.
The Jackets did show their strength down low after out rebounding the Hardrockers 40 to 31, as both teams were even in the turnover department with BHSU having 25 to SDSM's 23.
Biegler had three points in the second half to give her 13 for the game and five rebounds as senior, Calli Bechtel, was the team's third leading scorer with 11 points and six rebounds.
The SDSM victory ends the Yellow Jackets' 7-game win streak that began back on Dec. 14 after beating Colorado Christian, 66-54. BHSU now moves to 8-5 overall, and remains 6-2 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
The Jackets do have the chance to go for their eighth-straight victory in the RMAC on Friday, Jan. 17, when they host Western New Mexico from the Young Center at 5:30 p.m.
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