Trojans Take Care of Business in National Tournament Opening Rounds in Madison; Punch Ticket Again to Sioux City, Iowa

The #9 ranked Trojan Women’s Basketball team came away victorious in both the first and second round games of the National Tournament defeating No. 13 seed Science & Arts 86-69 and No. 12 seed Indiana South Bend 85-47.

The No. 4 seeded Trojans remain free of the upset at home and book another trip back to Sioux City, Iowa as one of the final 16 teams to continue competing for a National Championship. Seniors Miakken Vincent, Morgan Huber and Savannah Walsdorf finish their last two games in the DSU Fieldhouse with wins. The wins mark the fourth straight season with at least 27 wins in the David Moe era. DSU improves to 27-6 overall.

The matchup on Friday was kicked off by a tone-setting opening quarter by DSU. They dominated the opening quarter, closing it on a 14-4 run and leading after one, 25-11. The Trojans were sharp early, but the Drovers wouldn’t go down without a fight. Science & Arts, as well as DSU, both had 37 second half points. After the opening quarter they were only outscored by the Trojans by three points.

Dakota State fed off the energy in the DSU Fieldhouse and Walsdorf had a nice debut to this year’s National Tournament with a 28-point game. She also tied Tabor Teel for a game-high nine rebounds and was one of three Trojans with three steals. Along with Cierra Watkins off the bench and Huber. Angela Slattery posted 19 points of her own in the game, drilling three threes.

The Drovers were unable to convert on their attempts from deep, shooting just 5-for-18 (27.8%) from beyond the arc. Trinitee Alexander led the way for the Drovers with 19 points off the bench. Crystal Ortiz followed with 14 points plus Lainey Morrow added 13 of her own.

On Saturday, the Trojans really kicked into gear and put the Titans of Indiana South Bend to bed. Another dominant opening quarter set the tone again as they held the Titans to just six points and were up 20-6 early. Indiana South Bend tried to battle back with a 20-point second quarter and were down by 14 at half, 40-26.

The Gard twins, Katie and Maddie were held in check. Shooting just 9-for-26 (34.6%) from the field and just 20 points. Maddie finished with a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds. Tenliegh Phelps led the Titans in scoring with 14 points.

DSU came out of the half and really wanted to put this team to bed and truly did just that. Allowing just 21 points in the second half to the Titans and winning it 45-21. Instead of a pair of dominant scorers in this matchup, the scoring was very well spread around by Dakota State. Having six players in double figures, led by Teel with 12 points off the bench to go along with nine rebounds and four blocks.

Those four blocks put Tabor in sole possession of ninth in single season blocks (66) in school history. Passing both Britley Plautz (2016-17) and Sharee Galbraith (2014-15) who had 64. The other double digits scorers were Slattery, Lilli Mackley and Olivia Ritter all with 11. As well as Huber and Caitlin Dyer with 10 each.

In this game against Indiana South Bend, Walsdorf tied her season-high with six assists. She also captured some more milestones as well over the course of both games this weekend. Jumping to 2nd all-time in career free throws made (321), just seven shy of the all-time spot over Jessi Giles (327).

Walsdorf also now has 400+ career steals (405), 200 career 3-pointers made and 1,000+ career rebounds (1,009). Including tying herself for sixth all-time in single season 3PM (70) with Lindsey Vogl (2017-18) and tying Jessica VanLoy (2006-07) for third in single season steals with 100. Along with now sitting at 552 points in single season scoring, which is third in Trojan history. Slattery has now joined Walsdorf on the Top 10 single season 3PM list with 68 made threes sitting alone in 10th.

Next Game

Next, the Trojans will travel to Sioux City, Iowa as one of the last 16 teams competing for a National Championship. They will take on the No. 1 seed Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats on Thursday at 6pm. We’ll have that National Tournament action in Sioux City for you on Jammin Country 103 with pregame beginning at 5:45pm.