SIOUX FALLS – Maria Syzmanski scored a season-high 23 points to lead the No. 13 University of Sioux Falls Women’s Basketball Team (22-3, 15-3 NSIC) to a 66-46 win over Minnesota State Moorhead (16-9, 11-7 NSIC) in Northern Sun Conference cross divisional play at the Stewart Center on Saturday (Feb. 8).With its fourth straight win, the Cougars improved their DII-program best start to 22-3 with an equally top league mark through 18 games of 15-3. With four games to play, the Cougars have clinched at least a tie for the NSIC South Division title. USF, which moved to 6-5 against MSUM all-time, sit second overall in the NSIC and a game behind Minnesota Duluth.Szymanski, who moved her career point total to 1,094, had her first 20-point game of the season and her 11th as a member of the USF program. With 23 points, she had her 53rd double-digit point game of her career. Szymanski, a senior from Pulaski, Wisc., hit 8-of-10 field goals, which included 3-of-4 from three-point range as she pushed her career total in made threes to 162. Additionally, Szymanski was 4-of-6 at the foul line while grabbing two rebounds with a steal. USF also had double-digit points from senior Kaely Hummel who had 13 points, three rebounds and two assists. Hummel, who has 88 double-digit scoring games in her career, hit 3-of-5 from three-point range and has 258 triples in her career. Hummel, who now has 1,628 career points (4th all-time at USF), is just one three away from tying USF’s all-time leader Laura Johnson, who had 259 from 2010-14.”I am very happy with the way we played defensively. To hold an outstanding team like MSUM to 46 points is a great effort,” said 12th-year USF Head Coach Travis Traphagen, who earned his 239th career win and now has led his sixth team at USF to 22 wins or more. “We put them on the line too much in the first half but we challenged our kids and they responded. We found our rhythm in the second half and I think we rose to the occasion. Offensively, we were really sharp in the final two quarters,” said Traphagen, whose team will try to clinch the South Division outright when they face Winona State on Friday (Feb. 14) in Winona, Minn., before facing Upper Iowa on Saturday, Feb. 15.After trailing 26-24 at halftime, USF outscored MSUM, 21-9, in the third quarter and 21-11 in the fourth quarter for a 42-20 advantage in the second half. The Cougars, which hit 23-of-54 shots for 42.6 percent for the game, made 15-of-25 shots for 60 percent in the final two quarters, which offset some early shooting struggles in the first half.Despite being outrebounded, 41-29, the Cougars once again put the defensive clamps on an opponent and limited the Dragons to 26.9 percent shooting (14-of-52) while forcing 14 turnovers which resulted in a 7-of-3 edge in points off turnovers. USF had seven steals and three blocks in holding their second straight opponent under 60 points and the third team under 50 this season.USF, which ranks sixth in DII in assist-turnover radio, had just four turnovers and dished 10 assists on 23 made baskets. The Cougars again had a strong perimeter game by hitting 8-of-16 shots for 50 percent. The Cougars also was 12-of-19 from the foul line. MSUM, which made just 4-of-16 from three-point range, hit 14-of-20 free throws. They were led by Madi Green and Peyton Boom who each scored 10 points.
(Dan Genzler contributed to this report)
