MITCHELL — The Dakota Wesleyan University women’s basketball team delivered another dominant performance in the third quarter, outscoring their Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) rival Mount Marty 24-7 en route to a 79-50 home victory Saturday afternoon at the Corn Palace.
With the win, DWU (13-4, 9-2 GPAC) has now won seven consecutive games and eight of its last nine contests, maintaining a perfect 8-0 record on the season at home.
Dakota Wesleyan women’s head coach Jason Christensen expressed a desire for his team to play a strong, full four-quarter game, particularly improving their first two periods. However, he acknowledged that their third-quarter surges demonstrate the program’s determination to finish strong in the second half.
“We’re really working on the first two quarters, so I don’t know, maybe it’s the motivational speech I give at halftime. I am not sure what it is,” Christensen said with a laugh. “It just seems like in the first two quarters it takes a while to get going, and in the third quarter, it seems like we are there, but I am not complaining because we’re winning that way.”
The Tigers converted 27 of 57 field goal attempts, including eight 3-pointers, and distributed 22 assists throughout the game. Dakota Wesleyan outrebounded Mount Marty 44-22 and produced 25 points off the bench, while holding their GPAC rival to just 16-for-55 (29.1%) shooting from the field.
By halftime, DWU had built a 10-point lead at 31-21, mainly due to limiting the Lancers to 24.2% shooting and scoring 12 points in the paint.
In the third quarter, the Tigers shot 7-for-17 (41.2%) from the field and 8-for-10 at the free-throw line, while Mount Marty struggled with just 1-for-9 (11.1%) shooting. Ultimately, the Lancers were held to under 30% shooting for the game and posted their lowest scoring output of the season with 50 points through 18 games.
A key emphasis in DWU’s defensive game plan was containing Mount Marty’s leading scorer, Lacey Sprakel, a former Dakota Wesleyan player. Sprakel finished with 13 points on 3-of-11 shooting, including seven points from the free-throw line, slightly below her 14.5 scoring average.
“She is a nice post player, so we just had to have Emma (Yost) guard her, and I thought she did a nice job on her,” Christensen said. “As a whole, I thought defensively, holding a team like that to 50 points shows that we’re doing something right.”
The Tigers saw three players reach double-figure scoring, led by Yost with 17 points, four rebounds, four assists, and two blocks. Rylee Rosenquist contributed 14 points, five assists, three rebounds, and two steals. Avery Broughton recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, along with a career-high six blocks.
Broughton’s six blocks tied a program record, making her just the third DWU women’s player to achieve that mark in a single game, joining Randi Morgan (2003-04) and Jada Campbell (2022-23).
Supporting performances came from Shalayne Nagel with nine points, seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals; Taliyah Hayes with eight points; and Maleighya Estes, who added seven points off the bench.
For Mount Marty (11-7, 6-6 GPAC), Sprakel led with 13 points and two assists. Leah Williams added 11 points, four rebounds, and four steals, while Lennix DuPris contributed eight points and two assists off the bench.
Dakota Wesleyan returns to action at home on Wednesday, Jan. 14, hosting Waldorf at 5 p.m.
https://www.mitchellrepublic.com/sports/college/defensive-effort-powers-no-10-tiger-women-over-gpac-rival-mount-marty
