In their first of two games in two days, the University of Sioux Falls women's basketball team crashed the boards in Golden, Colo. Friday night, where they posted a season high 24 offensive rebounds to rout the Colorado School of Mines 76-55.
The Cougars got on the board first to take the game's only lead and never looked back.
Elizabeth Hildreth made back to back layups near the 15 minute mark to cap a 9-2 USF run and make it 13-5 with USF on top.
USF extended its lead to 12, when Holli Aggen converted a pair of free-throws following a Bailey Bouman 3-pointer. The Cougars would go ahead by as much as 14 points with 6 minutes left in the half.
Mines answered and came within seven points when Kjirsten Olson sunk a big jumper with 48 ticks left in the half, but a last second shot by Chrissy Strassburg gave USF a sizeable 44-32 advantage at the break.
The Cougars did a great job creating second chances and getting to the free throw line in the first half, where they turned 11 offensive rebounds into 16 second chance points, while scoring 14 points at the charity stripe.
USF put their 3-point shooting on display to open the second half, where five different players put three points on the board to record a 19-6 run and break open a 25 point lead with 14 minutes to play.
The Orediggers rallied to score eight unanswered and cut the lead to 17 points with just over 10 minutes left in the half, but that is as close as they would come.
Seconds later Vanessa Johnson responded with a big three to reclaim a 20-point cushion for the Cougars.
The final six minutes, it was back to the free-throw line for USF, where they tallied 22 points en route to a blowout win in their first ever meeting with the Colorado School of mines.
USF continued its success on the offensive glass in the second half where they pulled down 13 offensive rebounds to finish with 24 offensive rebounds on the night.
It was a team effort tonight for the Cougars as they saw 10 different players in the scoring column and recorded an impressive 15 assists on 21 FG.
Jamey Hofer led USF with 13 points, six rebounds and two assists. She finished 7-8 from the line and made her first two 3-pointers of the season. Alyssa Rushton nearly recorded a double-double as she posted nine points, nine rebounds and six assists.
On a night where the Cougars owned the offensive glass, Maggie Malloy pulled down a career high nine rebounds, six of which were offensive in 13 minutes of play.
USF returns to action tomorrow when they take on Regis University in Denver, Colo. at 1p.m. (MTN).
