MITCHELL, S.D. – After outscoring Briar Cliff University in every quarter, the No. 4 Dakota Wesleyan University women's basketball team handled BCU in a Great Plains Athletic Conference bout, 88-43 Wednesday at the Corn Palace.
DWU jumped out to an early 7-3 lead thanks to a pair of Sydney Halling (Harrisburg, S.D.) layups. After extending the lead to 11-5, the Chargers (12-11, 6-9 GPAC) hit a 3-pointer to cut the DWU lead in half.
A Rylie Osthus (De Smet, S.D.) 3-point basket helped the Tigers (20-3, 13-3 GPAC) extend their lead with the first quarter coming to a close.
Minutes into the second period, Halling helped push the Tiger lead to double digits with back-to-back layups, forcing the BCU timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Sarah Carr (Huron, S.D.) began to make her presence known as she connected on a layup. On the next possession, Carr was fouled and knocked down two free throws to give DWU a 14-point lead.
With less than three minutes to play in the first half, Kynedi Cheeseman (Alexandria, S.D.) found Madison Mathews (Draper, S.D.) behind the arc for a 3-point basket, extending the Tiger lead to 21 points at halftime.
Both teams came out of intermission slowly as the Tigers took a 30-second timeout to regroup. Out of the timeout, Cheeseman knocked down a 3-pointer to kickstart the Tiger offense.
A few minutes later, Osthus stole the ball and took it the other way for the easy fast-break layup. Following the layup, Osthus stepped back and drained a 3-point shot, assisted by freshman Kaylee Kirk (Balaton, Minn.) to take a 48-20 lead.
The 3-pointers continued to pour down as Sam Schuh (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) and Cheeseman nailed consecutive shots from deep to take a 31-point lead.
Cheeseman opened up the final stanza with five-straight points to hand the Tigers a 40-point advantage. With just under eight minutes to play, Cheeseman dished the ball to Carr who sank her 3-point basket, scoring her 1,000th-career point.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Schuh knocked down another 3-pointer, giving the Tigers an 84-35 lead, pushing DWU to its' 20th victory of the season.
Carr joined the 1,000-point club in her career with 18 points and eight rebounds in the game. Cheeseman added 21 points and five assists, while Osthus tallied 15 points and nine assists. Halling chipped in 10 points, as Mathews notched nine points, four rebounds and four assists.
The Tigers made 12 3-pointers in the contest, while shooting 50 percent from the field. On the defensive side, DWU forced 22 turnovers and held the Chargers to just 32.6 percent shooting from the field.
The Tigers take to the road against No. 8 Morningside College for a GPAC top-10 matchup at 2 p.m. Saturday in Sioux City, Iowa.
