SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State University women's basketball team will host the Yellowstone Christian College Centurions for the first time in program history on Tuesday, November 21. Tipoff is slated for 5:30 p.m.
THE GAME - Yellowstone Christian
- The two teams meet for the first time on the hardwood on Tuesday with a tipoff scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
- Deandra Cunningham leads the Centurions averaging 8.6 points per game and a 0.590 shooting percentage. Alongside Cunningham, Leonardine John returns for the Centurions and leads the team in rebounding with a 5.0 rpg average. John was the leading scorer for Yellowstone Christian last season averaging 10 points a game.
- The Centurions are a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association and currently own a 2-1 record.
- Rachel Erickson and Julia Seamans lead the Yellow Jackets offense, as Erickson is averaging 15.4 ppg and Seamans is right behind with 10.0 ppg. True freshman Katie Messler leads the defense with a 6.2 rebound per game average.
- The Green and Gold are members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and currently hold a 5-0 record.
THE COACHES
- Black Hills State University head coach Mark Nore enters his 16th season with the Yellow Jackets and owns a 267-175 record. He is the all-time wins leader for the Yellow Jacket basketball team.
- Dominic Gaglia joined the Centurions women's basketball program after a stint at Little Big Horn College. Gaglia racked up the all-time single season school record with 15 wins. During his tenure at Little Big Horn College, 14 of his players were named to the Region IX Academic All-Region team, with one player being named NJCAA Academic All-American. Gaglie received Coach of the Year Nomination in 2010-11. Prior to Little Big Horn College, Gaglia coached at the national level with Basketball Congress International in Montana for 20 years, where he won the 1993 and 2000 Senior Prep National Championships. He coached his teams to 12 national tournament finishes, placed 21 players on the prestigious BCI All-American teams, and secured over 400 players on college scholarships.
BREAKING RECORDS
Julia Seamans broke the school record for 3-pointers made in a game with eight against Johnson & Wales (11/18/17) surpassing
Rachel Erickson from the week before, who notched seven to tie the program record. Seamans set a new career-high of 24 points after her three-point performance. Erickson's seven 3-point performance helped her reach a new career-high of 26 points against Texas A&M International (11/11/17) and tied the program individual game record of 3-pointers made in a game.
Hannah Cass scored her first collegiate double-figure game with 11 points as a redshirt freshman, while
Keely Bertram notched her first career double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds in the game against Texas A&M International. Bertram's 13 rebounds was a new career-high for her as well.
5-0 START
Since joining the NCAA in 2012, the Yellow Jacket women's basketball program has surpassed its best start of 3-0, after capturing two more wins over Grace University (11/17/17) and Johnson & Wales (11/18/17). The last time Black Hills State started 5-0 was in the 2007-08 season when it finished 28-6 overall and 14-3 in the Dakota Athletic Conference.
Following Tuesday's contest, the Green and Gold will have a week and a half off before starting conference action hosting the University of Colorado Colorado Springs Mountain Lions and the Metropolitan State University of Denver Roadrunners on Friday, December 1 and Saturday, December 2. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Friday and 4 p.m. on Saturday.
