MADISON – Kayden Steele gave the Blue Hawks (5-12, 0-3) a team-high 14 points off the bench, and Samantha Oase added 12 points and eight rebounds, but NSAA-favorite Dakota State cruised to an 80-53 victory in Madison, S.D. on Saturday afternoon.
Both teams started out slow, with DSU taking a 2-0 lead on a Lindsay Peterson basket just over two minutes into the game. After a Trojan free throw, Oase put DSU up 4-1 and the Blue Hawks held the lead until DaSU took a 7-6 lead with 2:26 left in the quarter. It was a lead they would never relinquish, as the Trojans lead grew to 15-11 at the end of the quarter and 34-20 at the half. The deficits could have been bigger for the Blue Hawks if not for buzzer-beating threes from McKenzie Johnson and Steele at the end of each quarter.
Dakota State exploded for 31 points in the third quarter to extend their lead even further before the teams played an even quarter in the fourth with the Blue Hawks outscoring the hosts 16-15 in the final 10 minutes. DaSU forced 27 Blue Hawk turnovers on the day and turned those into 29 points. In contrast, DSU forced just 14 Trojan turnovers and scored just two points off them. Dakota State won the rebounding battle 42-41 and outshot DSU 42 percent to 38 percent.
WHATS NEXT
The Blue Hawks will return home for their NSAA home openers when they take on Waldorf University and Viterbo University on Friday-Saturday, January 13-14.