SIOUX FALLS - Behind a blistering shooting night and stifling defense, University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball cruised to an 84-60 win over Nebraska-Kearney in their season opener on Friday night. Sam Knecht tied her career-high with 24 points to lead USF to their fifth-straight season-opening win and USF posted a Division II-best 24 assists in the game.

An efficient line of 11-for-14 shooting helped Knecht tie her career-best 24 points, which she set last year at Minot State. Knecht was helped by Taylor Varsho, who connected on four 3-pointers to score 22 points, and Teagan Molden who tallied 16 points and a team-high six rebounds off the bench.

Sioux Falls' all-around play was on display early as they raced out to an 18-0 lead, shutting out Nebraska-Kearney (0-1) the first 6:15 of the game. Knecht scored the first six points of the game, converting two layups and a 12-foot jumper as USF shared the ball well early, assisting on five of their first six buckets.

Alyson Johnsen kept the Cougars rolling with a layup and Varsho followed with one of her four 3-pointers for an 11-0 lead. Molden made an immediate impact as a reserve, hitting a jumper and assisting on a Varsho layup. The next possession, Sioux Falls pushed their lead to 18-0 when Madi Robson assisted Varsho on her second three of the first quarter.

Nebraska-Kearney snapped the Cougars' game-opening run with a pair of free throws, but Knecht kept USF in front with a pair of layups to reach double-digits in the first 10 minutes of the game. Varsho capped the scoring with a layup in the final minute for a 28-10 lead after the first quarter.

The Cougars quickly pushed their lead to 20- points on a Knecht layup then led by 25 after Varsho hit her third three followed by a layup just after the seven-minute mark. Sioux Falls kept their lead in 20s for the rest of the second quarter, continuing to have their way offensively.

Molden hit a jumper and Robson followed with a layup to push the lead to 28 points, the largest USF lead of the first half. Marie Malloy put two more points on the board, to go along with her team-high five assists, putting USF up 47-22 with a minute to play in the first half. The Lopers added three free throws and a last-second jumper from Alexa Hogberg to enter halftime down, 47-27, to USF.

Sioux Falls Head Coach Travis Traphagen urged his team to keep pushing the ball after halftime and the Cougars responded with a 10-2 run to open the second half. Knecht opened with a layup and Varsho added five fast break points with a layup and three sandwiching a Molden 3-pointer for a 57-29 lead for the Cougars.

USF's lead hovered near 30 points before they broke through with a quartet of free throws for a 31-point advantage, 67-36, with just under three minutes left in the third quarter. Molden answered a three by UNK's McKenzie Brown and to keep USF ahead by 31 points. Amber Paden closed the quarter for the Cougars with a layup to put the home team up 73-47.

Up comfortably by 26 points, Sioux Falls kept pace with the Lopers in the fourth quarter to win comfortably. Knecht again opened scoring with a layup and Johnsen answered a pair of UNK buckets with a 15-footer. USF pushed their lead back to 29 at the midway point of the fourth quarter and coasted from there.

UNK cut the lead to 22 points with two 3-pointers, but Alison Klostergaard connected on a triple of her own for the last USF bucket of the game at the one-minute mark of the final frame.

The Cougar offense set themselves up with easy buckets all night, holding a 46-16 advantage over UNK in points in the paint. Sioux Falls turned 14 Loper turnovers into 25 points, 10 of which came on the break.

Sioux Falls continues a five-game home stand to open the season with a 6 p.m. game against Northwest Missouri State on Saturday, Nov. 14.