WICHITA, Kan. – The No. 9-ranked Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers held on for a 58-48 win over the Friends University Falcons this evening (Nov. 2) inside the Garvey Center.
The Tigers gained some separation with an 11-2 spurt in the first half that bridged the final 2:46 of the first quarter and the opening 2:22 of the second period to turn a 10-8 deficit into a 19-12 lead.
It was a 27-21 edge at the break for Dakota Wesleyan and the Tigers built the lead as high as eight before six straight Falcon points trimmed the deficit to two at the 1:59 mark of the third.
It appeared the Tigers took control for good following a 13-4 burst that resulted in a double-digit lead of 51-40 with 5:36 remaining in the game.
The Falcons though had one more run and got consecutive threes from Lauryn McIver and KK Peeler to claw back within five.
But baskets from Emma Yost and Avery Broughton finally turned back the Falcons and allowed the Tigers to put away the win.
"I loved our defensive effort tonight," said Friends women's basketball head coach Dean Jaderston. "We need to figure out how to score more consistently though. We can't shoot 29% and expect to beat good teams. We will keep improving though, and I'm excited to see what this team will become."
McIver was the spark plug tonight for the Falcon offense with a career-high 23 points along with six rebounds and three assists. Taylor Jackson led the Falcons (1-2) with 10 boards and three blocks, with Kyla Frenchers also recording three assists.
Yost paced the Tigers with 16 points and also had six boards, with Broughton adding 13 points. Rylee Rosenquist had a game-high four assists for Dakota Wesleyan and Liz Olson also had six rebounds.
As Jaderston noted, the Falcon defensive effort was solid in limiting the Tigers to 38.6 percent (22-of-57) shooting and 26.7 percent (4-of-15) from three-point distance.
But the Falcons mustered only a 29.3 percent (17-of-58) clip themselves and shot only 18.2 percent (4-of-22) from the perimeter.
The Falcons will next play a pair of games in Ft. Worth, Texas next weekend, starting on Friday (Nov. 8) vs. the University of North Texas at Dallas at 5 pm.
