SPEARFISH, S.D.—New faces on the Black Hills State University women's basketball team got their first opportunity to display their talents against Presentation College on Friday night. While the Yellow Jackets competed in their first game on Friday night, the Saints had four games under their belt.
Presentation carried a 2-2 record into their showdown with BHSU, which included a 101-53 rout over Oglala Lakota College on Thursday night. The Saints, an NAIA member, received their first taste of NCAA Division II action on Friday night.
The higher caliber competition proved to be too much for the Saints as the Yellow Jackets defeated them 69-47 at the Donald E. Young Center.
The Yellow Jackets begin the season 1-0, 0-0 RMAC while the Saints fall to 2-3, 0-0 NAA.
Bailey Kusser nailed her first two three-point attempts of the season to help the Yellow Jackets jump to a 10-3 lead with 7:52 remaining in the first quarter. That was enough to fuel the Saints as they responded with a 7-0 run to tie the game 10-10 with 6:07 left in the first quarter.
The momentum shifted in the Yellow Jacket's favor for good when Rachel Erickson converted on 1-of-2 free throws to make the score 11-10 at the 5:44 mark of the first quarter. BHSU followed that with an 11-6 run to end the first quarter with a 23-16 lead.
The opening five plus minutes of the second quarter saw neither team scoring a basket. Remi Wientjes broke the scoring drought with a jump shot to extend the BHSU lead to 25-16 with 4:25 left in the second quarter.
A Kusser three-pointer and a jump shot from each Keely Bertram and Jennie Scharn helped give the Yellow Jackets a 34-21 cushion at halftime.
The BHSU lead grew as large as 21 at the 3:34 mark of the third quarter when the score was 46-25.
The fourth quarter saw the Yellow Jackets jump to a 69-43 lead with 1:28 remaining thanks to Taylor Trohkimoinen's five points in the frame. The Yellow Jackets iced the game and secured a 69-47 win.
Kusser led the Yellow Jackets with 14 points in the contest.
BHSU will return to action tomorrow, November 13, at the Young Center against Johnson & Wales University. Game time is set for 5:30 p.m.
