SMSU women top Chadron State 60-51
OMAHA, Neb. - The Southwest Minnesota State women's basketball team turned up the heat in the opening minutes and then stepped up its defense in the final minutes to pull out a 60-51 victory over Chadron State at the Nebraska-Omaha Classic Friday.
SMSU improves to 2-1 with the win, while the Eagles drop to 0-2.
"We played a pretty solid second half," said SMSU head coach Mike Jewett. "We cut down on mistakes and made some more shots. Our defensive intensity became greater and then we executed offensively better. That was something we struggled with early this season."
The Mustangs stormed out to a 9-0 lead in the first four minutes behind back-to-back three-pointers from Tori Fink and Taylor Voss, while CSC struggled with five of its 24 total turnovers.
Fink led SMSU in the matchup with 19 points, including four three-pointers, while Heather Smith added 13 points.
With 13:04 remaining in the first half, the Eagles knotted the score at 11-all with a basket behind the arc from Alyssa Lyman and then took the lead after Lyman hit for a triple again.
"I thought we started each half with a lot of energy," Jewett said. "We were much more efficient offensively than we have been. We had a few breakdowns defensively, so then we would end up shooting ourselves in the foot and that created a dogfight."
SMSU struggled offensively as CSC stretched its first lead to 26-18 with strong shooting from Kaitlin Petri, who led the Eagles with a game-high 26 points after shooting 11-for-14 from the field. She also tallied nine rebounds, five steals and four assists.
Fink hit from behind the arc to cut the Mustangs' deficit to five points, but then Petri drilled a jumper to give the Eagles a 28-21 halftime advantage.
"Tori was good throughout the game," Jewett said. "She knocked down some shots on the perimeter for us. She does a nice job running the lanes and pushing the tempo."
SMSU scored the first six points of the second half on Fink's layup and then three-pointers from Voss and Fink, cutting CSC's lead down to one at 30-29. With 14:06 left, the Eagles held a 41-34 lead after a triple from Lexi Smidt. But then the Mustangs rallied with a 15-0 surge over the next eight minutes.
Lucia Puchelova's layup tied the contest at 41-all with 9:13 remaining and SMSU continued its dominance behind a strong offensive effort from Smith, who added a free throw to give the Mustangs a 49-41 edge with 6:44 left.
The Eagles cut the lead down to six with 5:15 left, but the Mustangs rolled on to victory.
"Heather Smith made some key baskets," said Jewett. "Prior to that, we hadn't made those kinds of shots. She was good (Friday)."
In the second half, SMSU overcame its poor first-half shooting performance (20 percent) as the team shot 39.4 percent from the field.
The Mustangs outrebounded the Eagles 51-43 and recorded 23 offensive boards. Laura Kramer led SMSU with 10 rebounds, while Abby Kenealy added nine and Puchelova seven.
SMSU will close out the two-day classic against Oklahoma Panhandle State at 1:30 p.m. today at Sapp Fieldhouse.
SMSU (60)
Tori Fink 6-15, 3-4 19, Heather Smith 5-11, 2-4 13, Megan Stadler 2-6 4-6 8, Lucia Puchelova 2-11, 3-4 7, Taylor Voss 2-10 0-0 6, Abby Kenealy 2-8 1-2 5, Laura Kramer 1-3 0-1 2 Totals 20-68 13-21 60.
Three-pointers 7 (Fink 4, Voss 2, Smith), Rebounds 51 (Kramer 10, Kenealy 9, Puchelova 7, Fink 6, Smith 6), Assists 14 (Stadler 5, Voss 3, Kramer 2, Fink 2), Steals 11 (Kenealy 3, Stadler 3, Voss 2), Blocks 1 (Kramer), Turnovers 20, Total Fouls 13, Technical Fouls None.
Chadron (51)
Kaitlin Petri 11-14 2-3 26, Alyssa Lyman 3-10 0-0 9, Lexi Smidt 207 0-0 6, Rachael Smidt 2-7 0-0 4, Betsy Moler 1-8 1-2 4, Kelsey Scott 0-3 2-2 2 Totals 19-60 5-7 51.
Three-pointers 8 (Lyman 3, Lexi Smidt 2, Petri 2, Moler), Rebounds Petri 9, Bobbi Arends 7, Samantha Arkulari 6), Assists 16 (Lyman 4, Petri 4), Steals 14 (Petri 5, Scott 3), Blocks 5 (Arends 3, Petri, Lexi Smidt), Turnovers 24, Total Fouls 19, Technical Fouls None
Halftime Score Chadron 28, SMSU 21.
