Szymanski had 13 points as she made 2-of-5 from the field, including both of her three-pointers, and knocked down 7-of-8 free throws to lead the Cougars to the victory. She also collected three rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot in 22 minutes of play.

A night after her 21^st birthday, Anna Goodhope had a career-best 11 points at USF as she made four field goals, including a three-pointer, while collecting three boards and two steals. Freshman Hannah Jones tallied 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds as she scored in double digits for a second straight game. In 31 minutes, she also had two assists, a block and a steal without a turnover. Sophomore Lauren Sanders added 10 points as she came off the bench to hit 3-of-5 from three-point range.

The Cougars led, 13-12, after one quarter and pushed the lead to 28-21 at halftime. With a 13-10 advantage in the third quarter, USF had a 41-31 lead. Then in the fourth quarter, USF used a 23-18 margin to take home the victory.

"I felt like we defended really well tonight," said USF Women's Basketball Coach Travis Traphagen, whose squad will travel to Chadron State for a 6:30 p.m. game on Saturday (Nov. 17). "We didn't shoot it as well as I would have liked but came up with baskets at key times and put together a number of runs," added Traphagen, whose team will not play a home game until hosting Presentation on Nov. 27 at the Stewart Center.

As a team, USF hit just 29.5 percent from the field on 18-of-61 shooting. USF was 8-of-24 from three-point range and 20-of-25 from the foul line for 80 percent. While SD Mines had a 37-31 edge on the boards, USF forced 22 turnovers and collected 13 steals.

South Dakota Mines was led in scoring by Anna Haugen with 12 points and she had five rebounds. They hit 15-of-48 shots from the floor for 31.3 percent and were 5-of-20 from three-point range for 25 percent. The Hardrockers made 14-of-17 from the foul line for 82.4 percent.

Game Breakdown –
In the first quarter, USF struggled offensively as they made just 4-of-18 shots for 22.2 percent. They converted just 2-of-8 shots from three-point range. USF took an 8-5 lead after a three-point basket from Sanders. After SD Mines took an 11-9 lead, the Cougars finished with a 4-1 run to take a 13-12 lead at the break.   

In the second quarter, Jessie Geer converted a lay-up which was followed by a pair of foul shots by Goodhope as USF took a 17-12 advantage (8:09).  The Cougars took a 28-21 lead to halftime as Goodhope scored nine points to lead the way.

Early in third quarter, two baskets by Gloria Mulumba, who finished with seven points and six rebounds, gave USF a 32-23 lead. Then Syzmanski hit a pair of three pointers as the Cougars stretched the advantage to 38-25 with 6:12 to play in the third quarter.  As part of a 13-4 run, the Cougars took a 41-25 lead with 2:07 to play after a three from Sanders, who hit her third of the game. However, the Hardrockers closed on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit back to 10 points entering the final quarter.

USF used a three-pointer and a foul shot from Jones and Krystal Carlson to push the lead back to 45-31 with 9:02 to play. Carlson added two more free throws with 7:55 to go as the Cougars maintained the 14-point lead at 50-36. From the 6:55 mark to 1:38 USF went on a scoring drought as the Hardrockers closed the gap to 53-46 (3:41).

A lay-up by Goodhope ended the dry spell as USF pushed the team back to nine points (55-46). In the final 1:38, USF outscored South Dakota Mines, 9-3 to take the victory. In the final 1:02 of regulation, USF made 7-of-8 free throws, including 5-of-6 by Szymanski, to ice the game.