Purdue Fort Wayne
South Dakota State
First Half Drought Dooms `Dons at South Dakota State
1/25/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 25, 2010
Brookings, SD –IPFW fell victim to a nearly seven minute scoring drought, as the visiting Mastodons saw their 17-16 lead turned into a 30-17 deficit over that seven minutes, as the South Dakota State Jackrabbits never trailed again in their 83-62 Summit League victory.
“South Dakota State is a very good basketball team,” said IPFW head coach Chris Paul. “We’ve been talking for a long time that we want to beat South, and in order to beat South, you have to match their intensity. You have to give them credit, because they just come after you over and over again in waves, and it is impressive.”
Chelsey Jackson scored a game-high 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field, as Stephanie Rosado scored 14, and Sydney Weinert a dozen, with Anne Boese adding eight and Jordan Zuppe six.
“I am proud of our kids for how hard they fought,” commented Paul after the game. “They didn’t stop working, we have a little ways to go before we are at the South Dakota State level right now.”
Weinert pulled down a team-leading seven rebounds, as the Mastodons out-rebounded the ‘Jacks 25-to-21 in the game. The 21 rebounds for SDSU were the fewest allowed by IPFW since they allowed 20 against Kentucky Wesleyan on January 11, 1991.
SDSU made a blistering 31-of-50 shots (62.0 percent) in the win, but made just 4-of-17 from long range, as IPFW also was over .500 in the game at 24-of-46 (52.2 percent) from the field, and 5-of-16 (31.3 percent) from the three-point line.
The Mastodons came out with a flurry out of the gate, scoring the game’s first six points, and leading by as many as seven at 9-2 following a three-point basket by Boese. The Mastodons held their lead until the 11:26 mark of the opening half when Jennie Sunnarborg put back an offensive rebound to give the hosts a 16-15 lead.
“We threw a little bit of a wrinkle to get off to a fast start because I know that South lives on runs,” said the head coach. “They love to get out on you, and before you know it, it is 10-0 and you are taking that first timeout. We were trying to stop that, and we did a pretty good job of that.”
IPFW answered with a jumper by Jackson, before the ‘Jacks went on their run to lead by 13 with 4:13 remaining in the opening period. SDSU’s lead grew to as many as 14, before Boese drilled her second three-point basket of the half to cut the deficit to 11 at 39-28 heading into the locker room at halftime.
“What happened to us is what has happened to us all year,” said Paul. “We go through stretches where we can’t score. I’m not sure why. We ended up scoring 62, but we have a tendency to go through stretches where we can’t buy a bucket, and the next thing you know our lead turns into a deficit, and you really can’t recover. We hung around, but we never really challenged after that point.”
The ‘Dons closed the gap to as few as 10 in the second half, but could not overcome their scoreless seven minutes, as the ‘Jacks stretched their lead to as many as 21, the contest’s final margin.
Sunnarborg had a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds, as Ketty Cornemann (16), Maria Boever (40), and Leah Dietel (10) each finished in double-figure scoring.
Now at the halfway point of their four-game road trip, the Mastodons prepare for a weekend series in Indianapolis against IUPUI on Saturday, January 29, and in Macomb, Illinois against Western Illinois on Monday, February 1.
~Dons~
