By OWEN REITZEL
The Daily Republic
The Dakota Wesleyan women’s basketball team opened its home season with a bang as the Tigers used a dominating first half to top Presentation College 101-54 Tuesday at the Corn Palace in Mitchell.
DWU played well on both sides of the ball early on, which pleased coach Jason Christensen.
“In the first half, our defense was good and we were rebounding well, and of course, offensively, we were good as well,” Christensen said.
Janvier Barbarin got the Saints off to a good start with a layup to open the game to give Presentation its only lead of the game, and from there, the Tigers went on a 17-0 run.
DWU’s defensive pressure led to 11 first-half turnovers and 23 percent shooting from the field for the Saints. The Tigers took advantage and DWU built the lead to 37-7 and never looked back.
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The Saints couldn’t close the gap much in the second, but their play did improve as Presentation raised its field goal shooting to 41 percent for the game.
Saint coach Eric Nelson said his team could build on its effort and play in the second half.
“It was a tale of two halves,” said Nelson. “In the first half our motion was terrible. We tried to do everything by ourselves and you can’t beat good teams like DWU doing that. In the second half when we had ball movement, we were setting good screens and we were able to get into the lane and kick to our shooters, and that’s when we’re are at our best.”
The second half was good offensively for Presentation but Christensen was not happy with his team’s second half defensive play.
“Our offense was there the whole 40 minutes, but in the second half our defense wasn’t,” he said. “Our defense wasn’t ready and we were just going through the motions and not talking and not jumping to the basketball. I don’t know if we got tired or if we thought we were up by a lot and we didn’t have to do the important things. I’m happy with the win, but I was disappointed with our effort defensively in the second half.”
The Tigers (3-0) had five players in double figures. Kim Johnson, Katie Johnson, Erica Herrold, a Parkston native, and Celeste Beck each scored 15 points. Mitchell native Kristin Sabers added 11 points, while Micaela Erickson dished out a game-high seven assists.
DWU was 38-of-77 for 49 percent from the field and 20-of-22 for 91 percent from the free-throw line. The Tigers outrebounded Presentation 49-29.
The Saints (0-3) were led by Rachel Fuhrmann and Barbarin with 14 points apiece and Hannah Phillips had 10 points. Sydney Larson brought down a game-high 10 rebounds for Presentation.
Presentation was 24-of-59 for 41 percent from the floor and 3-of-6 for 50 percent from the free-throw line.
DWU plays at the Viterbo Classic in La Crosse, Wis., Friday and Saturday. The Tigers play Roosevelt University (Ill.) at 5 p.m. Friday and Bethel College (Ind.) at 1 p.m. Saturday.
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Dakota Wesleyan 101
Presentation 54
DWU (3-0)
Micaela Erickson 1-7, 3-4 5; Taylor Piper 3-3, 0-0 6,; Amanda Hart 3-10, 2-2 9; Kim Johnson 7-11, 1-1 15; Katie Johnson 5-8 5-6 15; Savannah Minder 1-1 0-0 2; Erica Herrold 5-13 5-5 15; Celeste Beck 6-7 0-0 15; Kelsey Little 0-3 0-0 0; Skyler Heyden 2-3 0-0 4; Taylor Kuhn 0-0 0-0 0; Kristin Sabers 4-8 2-2 11; Legea Berryhill 0-2 0-0 0; Kendra Cheeseman 0-0 0-0 0; Lexy Jo Deneke 0-0 2-2 2; Shelbie Drey 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 38-77 20-22 101.
Presentation (0-3)
Hannah Phillips 4-15 0-0 10; Abbie Geraci 1-2 0-0 2; Rachel Fuhrmann 6-13 2-4 14; Jackie Miller 2-5 0-0 5; Janvier Barbarin 7-11 0-0 14; Caitlain Robinson 1-3 0-0 2; Kaylee Voorhees 1-1 0-0 2; Shelby Elsen 0-1 0-0 0; Sierra Bening 0-5 0-0 0; Taalyr Egeness 0-0 0-0 0; Sydney Larson 2-3 1-2 5. Totals: 24-59 3-6 54.
Halftime: DWU 54-16. 3-point field goals: DWU 5 (Hart 1, Beck 3, Sabers 1), PC 3 (Phillips 2, Miller 1); Rebounds: DWU 49 (Kim Johnson 7, Erickson 6, Beck 6), PC: 29 (Larson 10); Steals: DWU 8 (Piper 2), PC 6 (Benning 3); Assists: DWU 25 (Erickson 7), PC 16 (Benning 5); Turnovers: DWU 7, PC, 18. Total fouls: DWU 11, PC 15.
