After Another Upset, DSU Advances to First Ever NAIA Women’s Basketball Semifinals

For a third straight game, the Dakota State Women’s basketball team pulled off the upset with a 71-70 win over Indiana Wesleyan in the NAIA Tournament Quarterfinals. 

The Trojans started fast, scoring nine of the first 13 points in the game, and pushed their lead to ten before a five-point run from the Wildcats heading into the second quarter. 

DSU led 18-14 heading into the second and led by as much as 11 points before going scoreless for six minutes. In that same six minute stretch, IWU put up 21 points, and ended up outscoring the Trojans 23-12 in the quarter to take a six-point lead into the locker room, up 36-30.

Despite trailing for most of the third quarter, DSU had a late push in the quarter to cut it to three-points heading into the final quarter, down 50-47. 

Using a 19-4 run to open up the fourth, the Trojans were able to regain the lead for the first time since the first half. The final quarter was back-and-forth between the two sides, with three ties and three lead changes in the quarter.

Trailing by two with under thirty seconds left, Caitlin Dyer took a pass from Lilli Mackley in the corner and hit the three to give DSU the 71-70 lead, which proved to be the game-winner. 

Wildcats attempted to get a shot in with under five seconds left, but Lilli Frasure’s did not drop and went out of bounds, giving the Trojans the ball with four seconds and allowed DSU to hold on to upset Indiana Wesleyan with a 71-70 final.

After the win, Senior Elsie Aslesen expressed how proud she is of her teammates.

Aslesen finished with 12 points and nine rebounds, one short of a double-double. She also added six blocks.

Savannah Walsdorf continued her strong tournament play with another 20 point game while adding five rebounds and four steals.

Morgan Huber added double-digits scoring as well with 11 points, and had three steals. Dyer ended with eight points, including the game-winning three-pointer. She also added six assists.

Angela Slattery also did damage from deep, going 3-6 from three-point range to end with nine points and four rebounds. 

Leading the way for IWU was Frasure, who finished with a game-high 21 points and grabbed four rebounds and five assists. 

Dakota State shot 46.6 percent overall from the field (27-of-58 field goals) compared to Indiana Wesleyan 48.2 percent (27-of-56 field goals).

The Trojans hit 10 3-pointers in 29 attempts compared to the Wildcats 4-of-18 3-pointers.

It was the third straight game that Dakota State has upset a team with a higher seed than them in the NAIA Tournament, though Trojans Head Coach, David Moe, feels that the seeding is “just a number”.

It was also the third straight game where the Trojans ended a team’s double-digit winning streak, ending IWU’s 23 game win streak. The three teams DSU beat had a combined 58 wins prior to falling to the Trojans.

Dakota State will continue their run with their first ever appearance in the NAIA Women’s Basketball Semifinals, when they play Clarke tomorrow night at 8pm. Tomorrow’s game for the Trojans can be heard on FM 103.1 or online at AmazingMadison.com.