WINONA, Minn. - University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball suffered their first loss of the season, falling 91-52 at No. 10 Winona State on Saturday evening. The Cougars move to 8-1 on the year with a 2-1 record in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play.
The Cougars struggled to shoot the ball all night, finishing with a season-low 29.5 percent shooting percentage. Winona State (10-0, 3-0 NSIC) shot 58.3 percent from the field and connected on half of their three-point field goals, 9-of-18 behind the arc. The Warriors forced USF into 17 turnovers and turned those into 18 points.
Taylor Varsho again led USF in scoring, registering a team-high 13 points, the ninth game of the season in which she has scored in double figures. Teagan Molden connected on a pair of 3-pointers to finish with nine points, and Madi Robson hit two triples to reach eight points and had more than half the Cougars' nine assists with five.
Sioux Falls opened the game quickly behind a Varsho three on the first possession and jumpers from Alison Klostergaard and Alyson Johnsen on the next possessions. Winona State battled back behind Tara Roelofs, who scored five of her game-high 22 points in the first five minutes of the game. Kayla Timmermann gave the Warriors a lead with a jumper at the 4:40 mark of the first quarter and WSU never trailed after. Winona State closed the opening quarter on a 14-6 run and took a 27-20 lead into the second quarter.
The USF deficit quickly became double digits in the second quarter with Timmermann and Roelofs led Winona State in the second quarter. Sioux Falls was held to five points in the second quarter and found themselves behind 48-25 at halftime.
The Cougar offense was livelier in the third quarter, scoring 17 points, but they couldn't cut into the Warrior lead. Robson hit one of her threes and Molden connected on back-to-back 3-pointers at the three-minute mark, but through three quarters, USF trailed 69-42.
Varsho hit two threes in the fourth quarter and Marie Malloy got on the board with an acrobatic layup early in the final frame. The three-point shooting carried over from WSU's starters to their bench as two triples in the last two minutes of the game pushed the final score to 91-52.
Sioux Falls returns home to host Minot State and University of Mary at the Stewart Center on Dec. 11 and 12, respectively.
