Tigers stumble at Morningside

Mitchell, S.D.- After a back and forth first half, the No. 14 Dakota Wesleyan University women's basketball team fell short to the No.7 Morningside Mustangs, 84-62 in a Great Plains Athletic Conference matchup Saturday in Sioux City, Iowa.

 Sarah Carr (Huron, S.D.) opened up the scoring for the Tigers with a field goal to tie the game at 2-2, early in the first quarter. Kynedi Cheeseman (Alexandria, S.D.) converted on consecutive layups to extend the Tiger (12-4, 5-4 GPAC) lead to 6-2 with 8 minutes remaining in the opening frame.

 After taking a 12-4 lead midway through the first quarter thanks to a Cheeseman layup, the Tigers and Mustangs (13-4, 8-1 GPAC) closed out the frame by going back and forth to even up the game at 17-17.

 The second quarter was much of the same as the Mustangs scored four unanswered points before Jessica Mieras (Sioux Falls, S.D.) answered with a jump shot to cut the Mustang lead to 21-19.

 Morningside responded with a 10-2 run to push their lead to 31-22 with four minutes left in the first half. DWU answered with a run of their own as they scored 11 straight points thanks to three consecutive three-point baskets from both Matti Reiner (Tripp, S.D.) and Cheeseman.

 The first half ended with more back and forth scoring as the Tigers trailed by two points, 38-36.

 The Mustangs opened the second half with a three-point basket to push their lead to 41-36. Carr answered with five straight points to tie the game at 41-41 two minutes into the second half.

 Morningside began to pull away with a 11-point run in just three minutes before Carr converted on a layup to stop the run.

 A Cheeseman free throw cut the Mustang lead to seven points with two minutes left in the third stanza. However, this would be the closest the Tigers would get as Morningside extended their lead to 12 points to close out the frame, 60-48.

 Morningside outscored DWU 22-14 in the final frame to put the game away, 84-62. DWU shot 51% from the field, while converting on 37.5% of their three point attempts. Morningside shot 40.5% from the field and 41.4% from behind the arc.

 Cheeseman paced the Tiger offense with 17 points and 6 assists, while Carr chipped in 14 points and 10 rebounds.

 The Tigers travel to Orange City, Iowa to take on No.12 Northwestern College on Wednesday for a top-15 GPAC showdown.