SPEARFISH, S.D. --- The women's basketball team continued to fight and played well in the second half, including winning the 3rd quarter 21-9 but it wasn't enough at Black Hills State.
Early in the first quarter, Black Hills State got the momentum, starting out with 9 unanswered points, leading to an early Hardrocker timeout. After the 5-minute mark the Yellowjackets would string together another 6-0 run, taking a 15-0 lead before
Ryan Weiss finally got the Hardrockers on board, putting her in sole possession of 16th on the all-time scoring list at South Dakota Mines. Towards the end of the 1st, Weiss would hit a three, cutting the Yellowjacket lead to 21-5 and that is how the quarter would end.
The Yellowjackets were leading 27-5 when
Lily Peterson hit a three. This would start to get the offense going a bit as
Jansi Merz would hit a layup moments later. Merz would start to affect the game, playing solid defense, grabbing rebounds, and hitting another layup with just over 3 minutes to play in the half. Later, she made a beautiful skip pass from the post out to a wide-open Peterson for her second three. Going into halftime, the Hardrockers trailed 41-15.
To start the second half, the Hardrockers were playing much better, getting an early three from Weiss. A couple of minutes later,
Makenna Bodette would hit a three of her own, then convert a layup off of an offensive rebound, but South Dakota Mines still trailed 43-23. The Hardrockers would continue the momentum, getting a three from
Bailey Johnson then a steal and layup for Weiss, and all of the sudden the Hardrockers had cut the lead to 15, and it would stay there going into the media timeout at 4:59, with South Dakota Mines trailing 45-30. Peterson would continue her strong game, dribbling out of a double team and finding Johnson for another three, cutting the deficit to 46-33. To close the third Johnson would hit another three, for the quarter the Hardrockers outscored Black Hills State 21-9, shooting 53.3% from the field and 71.4% from three-point range.
About South Dakota Mines
The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and NCAA Division II offering 14 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic programs. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is a premier NCAA Division II conference with 15 members, as well as four associate members, located in the states of California, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah.
