DWU women top Lancers 70-66

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YANKTON — The Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers used a strong three-point shooting night to pick up a solid road victory on Wednesday.

Making 10 out of 18 three-pointers, the Tigers defeated Mount Marty 70-66 in Great Plains Athletic Conference women’s basketball action in Yankton.

“I think we did just enough to win, but we didn’t play our best basketball defensively,” Dakota Wesleyan head coach Jason Christensen said. “I thought we gave up too many lane drives.”

After the Lancers jumped ahead 11-0 in the first half, the Tigers caught up 16-17 behind MMC. DWU took the lead 25-24 over the Lancers, but by the end of the half MMC had regained its lead by two points, 32-30.

At the half, MMC’s Brittany Little had nine points and two rebounds, Allison De Kam had eight points and four rebounds and April Winne had five points and two rebounds. DWU’s Elizabeth Lamb and Celeste Beck each scored eight points, Lamb with one rebound and Taylor Piper put up four points and six rebounds.

The Lancers came out 36-30 after the half, but quickly fell to the Tigers 37-36 with 17 minutes remaining. DWU led the rest of the game, jumping ahead 60-49. With 1:34 left in the game MMC tightened the Tigers’ lead 66-64, but DWU ended the game 70-66.

"The first part of the first half we were really good, and the last ten minutes of the game were really good. It was the stretches in between that cost us the game," said Mount Marty coach Tom Schlimgen.

DWU shot 43.6 percent compared to MMC’s 44 percent, but dominated with its three-point shots shooting 55.6 percent against MMC’s 20 percent.

Beck made 20 points for the Tigers on the night, followed by Katie Johnson and Kim Johnson with 11 points each. Katie Johnson had a total of five rebounds while Kim Johnson had eight rebounds, while Lamb added 10 points and two rebounds in the win.

MMC’s Little scored a total of 19 points, a career-high. Winne recorded 14 points and six rebounds and De Kam had a total of 13 points and nine rebounds.

Dakota Wesleyan improved to 8-4 overall, 2-3 in the GPAC. The Tigers finish the pre-Christmas portion of the GPAC schedule at home against Doane on Saturday. Doane is winless in GPAC play (0-6) and is 5-8 overall.

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