SPEARFISH, S.D. – Despite a double-digit point effort by three players, the Black Hills State University women's basketball team fell 71-67 to Minnesota State on Friday night. Taylor Trohkimoinen was one of three players in double-digits scoring 16 points.

In the first quarter, the Yellow Jackets got out to a 7-1 run with Keely Bertram shooting three free throws while Sierra Toms and Cheyanne Balster each made a field goal. With 3:32 left in the first, Rachel Erickson made a layup to increase the Green and Gold lead by 11 points. However, the Mavericks brought the score within five points at the end of the first with a layup by Sammie Delzotto.

In the second quarter, the two teams battled it out with three pointers with four of them made in a minute and a half time frame. Yellow Jackets led by two at 18-16 with a layup by Balster followed by a 3-pointer from Britney Scherber to give the Mavericks a one-point lead. Balster makes a pass up to Toms for her to respond with another 3-pointer for the Green and Gold to go up by two again.

Mavericks came back and responded with a trey by Taylor Klug and an assist from Scherber. At 6:11 in the second quarter, Taylor Trohkimionen makes a pass to Abby Switzer to get her her first set of collegiate points making a trey to give BHSU another two-point lead once again at 24-22. The Yellow Jackets led by two at halftime, 31-29.

In the fourth quarter, the Green and Gold trailed by nine, 52-43 in the beginning. With 3:37 left to go in the game, BHSU down by eight and Trohkimoinen hits a three pointer to start a 7-0 run for the Yellow Jackets. Scott runs the court for Trohkimoinen to give her a pass to make a layup to cut the Mavericks lead by three.

At 2:45, Rachel Erickson grabs a steal and passes it off to Scott who goes coast-to-coast for another layup to trail by one, 63-62.  At 2:10, the Mavericks draw a foul to put Balster at the line. Balster makes one-of-two to knot the game up at 63 but it was not enough for the Yellow Jackets to come out with the win as the Mavericks took it 71-69.

Alongside Trohkimoinen's 16 points, Sierra Toms had 13 while Balster was the third leading scorer with 12. In 30 minutes of action, Trohkimoinen went 6-of-12 for field goals, 2-of-5 from the three-point range and 2-of-3 from the line. Julia Seamans tied her career-high six assists.

On defense, Trohkimoinen led with nine rebounds while Toms had a season-high of seven rebounds.

The Yellow Jackets fall to 0-4 on the season while Minnesota State improves to 3-0.

Black Hills State hits the road to start Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action starting at University of Colorado Colorado Springs on Friday, December 2 followed by MSU Denver on Saturday, December 3. Tip off set for Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday at 5 p.m.