SIOUX FALLS – The University of Sioux Falls women avenged two of its five losses all season with a dominating 71-59 win over Winona State in the quarterfinals of the NSIC Tournament on Sunday at the Sanford Pentagon.
USF reaches its fifth consecutive semifinal game and will face St. Cloud State at 8 p.m. tonight. KWSN carry the game.
The Huskies ended Augustana’s season with a 69-57 win on Sunday. The other women’s semifinal will be Minnesota State against top seed Minnesota Duluth at 5:30 p.m. today.
The men’s semifinal games will start at Noon, with MSU-Moorhead taking on top seed Northern State, who ended Augustana’s season in a Saturday thriller, 68-66. Then at 2:30, Duluth plays Mankato, who ended USF’s season 60-59 on Saturday.
The men’s and women’s championship games will be at 5:00 and 8:00 on Tuesday.
USF VS SCSU SUMMARY by Dan Genzler of USF:
Led by the seventh career double-double (10 points and 14 rebounds) by senior Jacey Huinker and the shooting artistry of junior forward Anna Goodhope, who had a season-high 23 points, USF picked up their six straight tourney quarterfinals victory. As a result, USF, which has won three straight games, is in unprecedented territory in the NSIC. They have now reached the conference semifinals for an unmatched fifth straight season. With a win over Winona State, which had defeated USF twice during the regular season, the Cougars now stand 15-6 in NSIC Tournament games.
“It was a great effort by everyone tonight. Jacey (Huinker) certainly set the tone and then we were fighting for every loose ball and making plays,” said USF Head Coach Travis Traphagen, who has 243 career wins, which is the most ever at USF. “Then, you add in the shooting exploits of Anna (Goodhope) and Kaely (Hummel) and things were working for us,” added Traphagen, whose team is ranked third in the NCAA DII Central Region rankings.
Huinker, a senior from Altoona, Iowa, who with Kaely Hummel are candidates for CoSIDA Academic All-American honors, hit 5-of-8 field goals and had four assists to go with 14 rebounds. Of those boards, she had five off the offensive glass and set the program’s DII mark with 82 offensive rebounds (Sam Knecht, 77, 2016-17). She also has 780 rebounds overall, which is sixth-most in USF school history.
Goodhope was 9-of-16 from the floor and made a season-high 5-of-10 from three-point range. A junior from Sioux Falls, S.D., Goodhope had three triples and 11 points in the first quarter. But, perhaps typifying her night and that of her teammates was a three that she dialed up late in the fourth quarter with the shot clock running down. From about 33 feet, she connected and gave USF a 71-57 lead and ended any long-shot hopes for the Warriors. Goodhope also added seven rebounds, a block and a steal in 28 minutes on the floor.
Three-time All-NSOC guard Kaley Hummel had 14 points and five rebounds and was among four players in double-digits. She also passed 1,700 points and in fact has 1,708 in her career. With two triples, she now has 268 in her career, which is the most in school history. USF also had 12 points from senior guard and three-time All-NSIC guard Mariah Szymanski, who was 5-of-7 from the field and added three assists and two rebounds.
As a team, USF made 31-of-65 from the floor for 47.7 percent and was 8-of-19 from three-point range for 42.1 percent. The Cougars shared the ball as they had 15 assists on 31 made baskets.
Crucial to USF’s success was the control of the paint where the taller Warriors had created problems in the earlier two matchups this season. USF had a 32-to-24 edge in the paint. The Cougars also had a major advantage on fast break points to the tune of a 21-to-3 edge and with Goodhope’s performance held a 31-14 margin bench points.
In this game with just three lead changes, USF led for 36:41 including a 22-18 margin in the first quarter. With a 20-to-10 advantage in the second frame, USF had a 42-28 lead at halftime. The Cougars also had a 16-13 edge in the third quarter as they led, 58-41, through three quarters. WSU outscored USF, 18-13, in the fourth quarter but with USF continuing to answer any rally, the issue was at hand.
