LUBBOCK, Texas – The Black Hills State University women's basketball fell 63-48 to West Texas A&M Friday in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. The No. 7 Yellow Jackets season ends with a 21-8 record, the most wins in the NCAA era while the No. 3 Lady Buffs improve to 28-4 and move onto the South Central Region Championship on Sunday.
Taylor Trohkimoinen dropped in a game-high 19 points while Bailey Kusser added 12. West Texas A&M countered with Sasha Watson with 18 points, Madison McLain with 11 and Alie Decker with 10.
Black Hills State women's basketball ends the season as the only Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference school and only NCAA Division II school to win a game in the NCAA Tournament. The No. 7 seeded Yellow Jackets defeated No. 2 seeded Colorado State - Pueblo 78-60 on Thursday.
With the game tied at 5-5 midway through the first quarter, WT's Madison McLain made back-to-back 3-point baskets to take an 11-5 advantage. That lead would stretch to seven points at 14-7 but the Green and Gold battled back behind a back-to-back treys from Bailey Kusser and Christine Thorn to pull within one point at 16-15 with 32 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
However, the Lady Buffs would make a layup in the closing seconds to take an 18-15 lead into the second quarter.
The second quarter saw the Yellow Jackets fall behind by six points again but this time, Keely Bertram scored a jumper and Taylor Trohkimoinen made one of her three first half 3-point baskets to climb back within one point. After a WT free throw, the Yellow Jackets took their first lead of the game on a Trohkimoinen trey, as BHSU led 26-25.
However the Yellow Jackets would be held scoreless over the final four minutes as West Texas entered intermission with a 31-26 lead.
The third quarter belonged to the Lady Buffs as their lead fluctuated between five points and 11 points throughout the quarter including the final separation at the break of 49-38.
The Yellow Jackets were able to cut the lead down to eight points at 52-44 behind a back-to-back Trohkimoinen baskets in the fourth quarter. However Maddison Wild scored on a layup with 5:01 remaining in the game. Black Hills State couldn't get any closer as West Texas prevailed 63-48.
The Yellow Jackets were hurt by 14 second chance points off of 16 offensive rebounds by WT, who were ranked No. 11 in the final regular season USA Today Coaches Poll. lack Hills State shot 34.7 percent from the field but shot just 10 free throws, making six, as West Texas countered with 24-of-30 from the free throw line.
The loss ends the careers of Bailey Kusser and Christine Thorn, as they exhaust their NCAA eligibility.
