Cougars Blast Yellow Jackets, 70-39

A balanced scoring attack which saw three players score in double figures helped the USF women's basketball team roll to a 70-39 win against Black Hills State Saturday at the Stewart Center.

The Cougars improved to 13-2 on the year, while Black Hills State dropped to 5-10.

USF senior Betsy Hildreth eclipsed 1,000 career points. The Norwalk, Iowa native came into Saturday's game three points shy of the milestone and officially passed the mark on a lay-up with 7:10 remaining in the second half. She had eight points and five defensive boards in the win.

"Betsy was one of my first recruits; I can't say enough great things about her," Coach Travis Traphagen said. "I'm happy to see her join the 1,000-point club. I'm not going to talk too much about her because I don't want to break up; she means that much to us and to me."

The Cougars dominated from beginning to end against the Yellow Jackets, holding the visitors to 22-percent shooting and forcing 15 turnovers. On the other end, USF shot 46-percent while dishing off 12 assists, compared to 14 floor mistakes.

USF led 32-22 at the half and its offense took over after the break, outscoring Black Hills 38-17 to create the final margin. "I thought our kids played very well tonight," Traphagen added. "We saw what Black Hills could do early, they guarded us well and we really couldn't pull away, but as we got to the second half, I think our depth wore them down and I thought we were really good on the defensive end and forced them to take some tough shots."

Junior Holli Aggen turned in her best performance as a Cougar, scoring a game-high 14 points and coming just short of a double-double with nine rebounds. Senior Vanessa Johnson had 13 points and two steals and classmate Jamey Hofer added 12 points and was a perfect 10-for-10 from the stripe.

"Holli's always our go-to type kid and got us going in the second half," Traphagen said. "When she plays like that, we're really tough."

The USF bench outscored the Black Hills reserves, 18-10. The Cougars also out-rebounded the Yellow Jackets 37-33.

USF will travel to Minot State next weekend for a double-header against the Beavers (Jan. 27-28).

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Players Mentioned

#3 Holli Aggen: G; 5' 9"; Freshman

#34 Jamey Hofer: F; 5' 11"; Junior

#5 Vanessa Johnson: G; 5' 9"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#3 Holli Aggen
: 5' 9"; Freshman
: G

#34 Jamey Hofer
: 5' 11"; Junior
: F

#5 Vanessa Johnson
: 5' 9"; Junior
: G

Players Mentioned

#3 Holli Aggen

#34 Jamey Hofer

#5 Vanessa Johnson

Players Mentioned

#3 Holli Aggen

#34 Jamey Hofer

#5 Vanessa Johnson