SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dec. 29, 2005)--The South Dakota women's basketball team (11-3) bounced back from its earlier defeat in Augustana's Sioux Valley Clinic Classic with a 71-38 win over the Upper Iowa Peacocks (3-10) at the Elmen Center on the Augustana campus, Thursday afternoon.
With the victory, South Dakota has won eight of nine games. Senior guard Brittany Bessert (Fort Collins, Colo.) led USD with 13 points.
The first half was a struggle for both teams as the two squads combined for just 13 field goals, including two three-point baskets each. If not for 10-of-10 shooting at the free throw line by the Coyotes, it may have been worse than the 24-17 halftime advantage for USD.
Things for USD were much different in the second half. South Dakota opened the second stanza with a 15-2 run, which was capped by junior Vanessa Yanez's (Wagner, S.D.) jumper to provide USD with a 39-19 lead at the 14:52 mark.
Upper Iowa cut the lead to 13 in the second half at the 7:29 mark. However, USD re-established an 18-point lead at 55-37 (6:05) when Bessert hit a three-pointer and sophomore Ashley Bjorkman (Vermillion, S.D.) made a jump shot.
The lead eventually became 33 points for USD as Bjorkman hit a three-pointer with 30 seconds left to run the lead to the final score of 71-38.
For the game, USD shot 37.1% (23-of-62) from the field, including 20% (4-of-20) from three-point range. It wasn't until midway through the second half that the Coyotes missed a free throw before finishing at 84% on 21-of-25 shooting.
USD also received 12 points from Yanez and 10 from freshman Bridget Yoerger (Hinton, S.D.). It was the 11th straight game that Yoerger has scored in double figures. Junior Erica Schroeder (Miller, S.D.) recorded a career-high 14 rebounds to tie for the game-high.
Upper Iowa, who was led by 12 points from Christa Hammel and Ashley Martin, shot 24.1% (13-of-54) from the field and was 5-of-15 (33.3%) from three-point range. At the foul line, the Peacocks were 7-of-12 for 58.3%.
The Coyotes will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 31, when they travel to Chadron, Neb., to take on Chadron State at 2 p.m. Central Standard Time.
