RAPID CITY, S.D. – Black Hills State women's basketball improved to 5-1 on Monday night, defeating the South Dakota Mines Hardrockers 72-42.
 
Danica Kocer led the Yellow Jacket scoring tonight as she secured 16 points against the Hardrockers. She shot 60 percent from the field and a perfect four of four from three-point range. Niki Van Wyk, Morgan Hammerbeck, and Ellie Moore all recorded double-digit scores versus the Hardrockers.
 
As a defense, the Yellow Jackets recorded 21 steals against SDM, with Ellie Moore and Kalla Bertram leading the team with four a-piece. The Yellow Jackets forced 25 turnovers and only gave up 15.
 
From the tipoff, the game started quickly as a Moore layup put BHSU on the board first, but an SDM three-pointer and a layup quickly put them up 5-2. Two mid-range jumpers from Van Wyk put the Yellow Jackets back up 6-5 and an Ellie Moore steal opened up an Alessia Capley layup to give the Yellow Jackets the 8-5 scoreboard.
 
The Hardrockers, however, went on to nail another three from the corner to go up 10-8. With a Van Wyk turnaround layup and a pair of shots from the charity stripe, courtesy of Morgan Hammerbeck, BHSU took the lead 14-12 to start.
 
The Yellow Jackets began to pull away with this one in the second quarter, tacking on a 34-7 run before the intermission. The Yellow Jackets finished the first half with a perfect six of six from three-point range and a 69.2 percent clip from the field. Kocer led the charge as she was perfect on three shots from the perimeter and held a 4-6 mark from the field. The Yellow Jackets recorded 11 steals on defense versus a Hardrocker five.
 
Out of the break, a Hammerbeck shot from beyond the arch started the third quarter with the Yellow Jackets at a 51-19 lead. At the 8:01 mark in the third, SDM went on a six-point burst before Kalla Bertram interrupted the charge with a layup at 5:58 to go in the frame. Despite back-and-forth scores from both sides, the Yellow Jackets were able to maintain a sizeable 65-33 lead heading into the final quarter.
 
The fourth quarter saw the Hardrockers outscore the Yellow Jackets 9-7, but the lead BHSU obtained in the earlier quarters proved to be too much to come back from as BHSU went on to move to a 5-1 spot on the season. Both squads will meet again on Jan. 4, 2023 in Spearfish.
 
Up Next
The Yellow Jackets return home on Friday, Dec. 2 for their first RMAC showdown against the Regis Rangers at 5 p.m.