Black Hills State women's basketball picked up their ninth win over New Mexico Highlands on Friday night, defeating the Cowgirls 57-48.

The Yellow Jackets (9-2, 4-1 RMAC) went 22-of-56 from the floor tonight and 9-of-24 from three-point range while draining 50 percent of their free throws.
 
The two double-digit scorers for the BHSU ladies tonight were Niki Van Wyk and Haylee Weathersby. Van Wyk led the team with a 15-point performance. She went 5-of-9 on the night, with all five of her shots from three. She also recorded three rebounds, an assist, and a steal on the night.
 
Weathersby logged 15 minutes off the bench tonight and took in 10 points versus the Cowgirls. She matched Van Wyk with a 55.5 percent mark from the field and three rebounds as well. She also recorded the only block for BHSU in her performance.
 
Leading the rebounding for BHSU was Kalla Bertram, who also scored six points tonight. She nabbed a team-leading seven boards on defense and grabbed a pair on offense.
 
After both teams opened the game with missed three-point shots, the Cowgirls grabbed the contest's first points on a mid-range jumper. Megan Engesser went down the court on the next possession and drained the first three-point shot for BHSU to give the Yellow Jackets their first lead of the game.
 
Following another Engesser three, NMHU climbed back to a 7-6 lead with both teams exchanging scores until back-to-back threes from Niki Van Wyk helped end the quarter with a 15-13 BHSU lead.
 
Engesser began the second quarter with another three, but both teams went cold until the Cowgirls put away a layup to bring the score to 18-15 with BHSU in front. The Yellow Jackets then went on an 8-0 run to take a 26-17 lead with 3:01 to go in the half. The final 70-seconds of the half ended with a 5-5 run, with BHSU holding the lead at 31-22.
 
Out of the locker room both teams remained even in scoring until a five-point burst helped the Cowgirls get within 10 of BHSU at a 39-30 scoreboard, but a jumper from Kalla Bertram kept BHSU ahead by 11. Haylee Weathersby knocked down a layup to give the Yellow Jackets the 13-point gap at the 29-second mark in the third.
 
Heading into the fourth quarter with a 43-32 lead, scores from a Weathersby layup and a Van Wyk three set the Yellow Jackets up with a 16-point lead inside of the first couple of minutes. The Yellow Jackets cooled down, however, missing multiple shots to give the Cowgirls a chance to rack up a ten-point rally to be back to a single-digit deficit.
 
Out of the BHSU timeout forced by the rally, both teams knocked down three-pointers to bring the score to 51-45 with 2:16 to go in the game. Both teams continued to duke it out down the wire, but a NMHU foul drawn by Ellie Moore inside 50 seconds gave BHSU enough time to set up a Summer Fox layup that proved to be enough to secure the Yellow Jacket victory.
 
Up Next
After a couple of weeks off for the holidays, BHSU will take off for a road matchup against Adams State on Friday, Dec. 30 with tipoff for the ladies slated for 5:30 p.m.