Sioux City, Iowa – Dakota Wesleyan women’s basketball fell on the road 89-80 to the No. 12 Chargers. DWU trailed the Chargers by as much as 25 points early in the game but adjusted and tightened up the gameplan resulting in cutting the lead down to four late in the fourth quarter, but the comeback fell short. Dakota Wesleyan outscored the Chargers 63-59 in the last three quarters, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the 30-17 first quarter deficit. DWU was led by freshman Emma Yost who had a career-high 24 points and continued to dominate down in the paint putting defenders in the blender with her post moves. Grace Fryda was in double-digits with her 11 followed by Lacey Sprakel who tied a season-high with 10 points off the bench. Morgan Edelman almost had a double-double with her nine points and nine rebounds. DWU dominated the paint outscoring the Chargers 50-22 but turned the ball over 15 times leading to 20 Briar Cliff points.
Highlighted Player– Emma Yost ~ 24 points 6 rebounds 10-12 FG
Stat Leaders:
Points – Emma Yost (24)
Assists – Morgan Edelman (5)
Rebounds – Morgan Edelman (9)
Blocks – N/A
Steals – Shalayne Nagel (3)
Recap – DWU coming into the contest knew they were going to have to be at their best defensively going up against a BCU team that could get after it on the offensive end of the floor with their 96.5 points per game through the first six games of the season for the Chargers. Briar Cliff lived up to the numbers opening the first quarter hitting basically every shot and forcing DWU turnovers to grab a 20-4 early lead. Dakota Wesleyan struggled early with the Chargers press, turning it over, which BCU turned into points. The Tigers started to chip away at the lead with freshman Emma Yost dominating in the paint with her arsenal of post moves leading to bucket after bucket. Lacey Sprakel and Shalayne Nagel also provided a spark off the bench going to work in the interior as well. Briar Cliff continued to keep the Tigers at arm’s length for the remainder of the quarter, closing it out with a 30-17 advantage.
The second quarter was a lot of the same with DWU finding most of their success down low with Yost, Sprakel, and Nagel, but got a couple big threes from the sharpshooter Grace Fryda who is coming off an 18-point performance in which she buried six threes’. The Chargers showed no signs of slowing down on offense, finishing the second quarter with 24 points and 56 points in the half. Despite the 56-41 deficit the Tigers shot very efficiently going over 50% from the field and 75% from deep range. Yost led the Tigers with 14 points in the half which keeps alive her streak of five straight games with double-digit points. Fryda added nine points followed by Sprakel and Nagel with six.
The Tigers went with a slightly different look out of the locker room with Nagel and Fryda getting the start. Both players wasted no time in scoring a bucket each to start the second half. DWU cut that Charger lead to single digits going on a 15-7 run in the first six minutes of the third quarter. DWU continued to lean on their true freshman Yost down in the post who poured in 18th point during the run. The 2022 aggressive and physical Rylee Rosenquist really showed up in the third quarter which is bad news for the Chargers as Rosenquist started getting aggressive dribble drives to go and grabbing offensive rebounds and putting it back. DWU made the adjustments they needed to out of the locker room and won the third quarter 21-14 to knock the Charger lead down to eight going to the final quarter.
Yost got the DWU crowd fired up that made the trip when she got an and one layup to go. Yost hit the 20-point mark for the second time this season after the made field goal. A couple minutes later Mya Wilson found an open Morgan Edelman under the basket for an and one of her own to cut the lead to five after the made free throw. With 6:32 left in the game the Chargers burned a timeout with the score 76-71 BCU. Yost got another bucket to go during the stretch, tying her career-high at 22 points. Both teams went back and forth for the next four minutes, leaving it at a five-point game with three minutes left in the game. The Tigers weren’t able to mount the comeback though getting close out 7-3 for a 89-80 final.
Head-to-Head (Briar Cliff)
- The Tigers are 34-22 all-time against Chargers with tonight’s loss.
- DWU coming into the game had won seven of the last ten matchups.
- Dakota Wesleyan and Briar Cliff split the series last year.
Up Next
- Dakota Wesleyan women’s basketball is next on the court for an exhibition game against Augustana University Saturday, November 25 at 12 p.m.