SIOUX FALLS – With first place on the line, the No. 14 University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball Team (14-2, 7-2 NSIC) dominated on both sides of the ball and emerged with a dominating 91-68 Northern Intercollegiate Conference win over Minnesota State (9-4, 6-3 NSIC) on Friday (Jan. 10) at the Stewart Center.

With the win, the Cougars tied the 2016-17 team for the fastest start by USF in the NCAA DII era at 14-2. And, USF moved to 7-2 in the NSIC South and into sole possession of first place. USF, which will face Concordia St. Paul on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., at the Stewart Center, has won five straight games with four of them in league play.

"This was one of our most complete games since SMSU," said USF Head Coach Travis Traphagen, who recorded career win number 231. "It started with the defensive effort which was relentless; we shared it and were able to get to the free throw line. It was just a really solid effort from everyone on our team. I was really proud of the effort which resulted in a nice win," said Traphagen, whose team has won five straight against MSU, including both regular season matchups in 2019-20.

Senior guard Kaely Hummel led five players in double-digit points by scoring 27 points with a career-high seven threes on nine attempts. With her third 27-point effort of the season, Hummel moved into fourth place on USF's career-point list and with 1,480 passed Shelly Fauth, who had 1,475 points from 1982-86. In addition, Hummel now has 240 career threes, which is third all-time at USF. Overall, she was 8-15 from the field and made all four of her free throws while collecting four rebounds in 29 minutes on the floor. She now has 79 double digit scoring games with 24 20-point games, including eight this season. In fact, the senior from Cherokee, Iowa, has 20 points or more in five of her last six games.

USF also had 17 points, four rebounds and two assists from junior forward Anna Goodhope, who hit 7-of-11 shots and was 3-of-4 from 3-point range. Senior Augusta Thramer had 11 points, six rebounds and four assists in her first start of the season. The Cougars also had 10 points, four rebounds and a block from senior Jessie Geer and 10 points, three assists and two steals by sophomore guard Hannah Jones.

Key to the USF win was solid shooting and a stifling defense. USF was 32-of-65 from the field for 49.2 percent with 13-of-24 from three-point range for 54.2 percent. The Cougars had the second most points on the season with 91 and the second-most made threes with 13.  Meanwhile, MSU was 23-of-70 from the floor for 32.9 percent and made just 4-of-16 for 25 percent from three-point range as USF consistently hounded the shooters on the perimeter.

USF, which was 14-of-21 from the foul line, forced 18 turnovers and turned those errors into a 23-to-13 points off turnovers advantage. And, another factor for USF was the rebounding in which they grabbed 41 boards against the taller Mavericks, which had 46. Leading the effort was senior Jacey Huinker who had double-digit rebounds for the 25^th time in her career as she collected 15 boards, including 11 in the first half, to go with six points and four assists. Also, USF had 21 assists on 32 made baskets which showed the importance of sharing the basketball.

"I think anytime you get it done on the defensive end and play with confidence offensively, a lot of good things will result," said Traphagen, whose team led 50-34 at halftime and extended the margin to 74-52 after three quarters of play.

Game Summary –
In the first half, USF built as much as a 22-point lead and took a 16-point lead to half. USF led 50-34 at the break as Hummel scored 13 points and  Geer and Thramer both supplied seven points. And, Huinker had six points and 11 rebounds by the break. In the opening two quarters, USF hit a combined 17-of-32 shots for 53 percent while MSU was 12-of-33 for 36.4 percent. The Cougars finished 7-of-10 from three-point range while MSU was 2-of-6. Both teams had 19 rebounds.

Quickly in the opening quarter, Huinker scored to give USF a 2-0 lead at the 9:00 mark. At 8:17, Goodhope's three gave USF a 5-0 lead. In what amounted to a back-and-forth opening quarter, the Cougars, who made 9-of-16 field goals for 56.3 percent (4-of-6 form three for 66.7 percent), had five points from Geer and Goodhope for a 24-18 lead at the break.  

With a trio of free throws, Thramer gave USF a 27-18 lead with 8:45 to play. Then, Hummel knocked down a three as USF's lead grew to 30-19 (8:05).  Following a run of 6-1 to open the quarter, the Cougars took off on an 18-7 burst as Mariah Szymanski (7:38), who had five points and five assists, and Hummel (6:24) hit threes for a 48-26 lead. MSU closed with an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to 16 by the break. In the second quarter, USF outscored MSU, 26-16.

With a three from the right corner by Goodhope USF took a 55-34 lead with 7:48 left on the third quarter clock. Then, Hummel hit a three from the left corner and Geer had a free throw for a 59-36 lead (6:46). Later, Goodhope knocked in another three as USF led 67-44. MSU couldn't make a sustained run against USF as the Cougars continued to apply defensive pressure.

Jones had a steal and lay-up followed with a foul shot as USF led 70-44 with 2:33 left in the third quarter when USF was 8-of-14 for 57.1 percent from the field and had a 24-18 scoring edge. At the quarter break, USF led, 74-52.

Early in the fourth quarter, Hummel surpassed 20 points with a driving lay-up and Cougars had a 76-54 lead (8:50). USF, which had a 17-16 margin in points in the final quarter, shot just 7-of-19 for 36.8 percent but MSU made just 5-of-17 shots for 29.4 percent. As a result, USF maintained as much as a 26-point lead (88-62, 3:44, 4^th quarter) as MSU could cut the lead under 20 points just once (79-60, 7:03, 4^th quarter) and the Cougars swept the regular season series with the Mavericks.