SIOUX FALLS – The trio of Megan Fannin, Krystal Carlson and JeMae Nichols combined for 54 points and 16 rebounds to lead the University of Sioux Falls Women's Basketball Team (7-3, 4-1 NSIC) to its fifth straight win with a 74-54 win over Winona State (4-5, 1-4 NSIC) on Saturday at the Stewart Center. 

With the win, USF is tied for second in the NSIC South with Southwest Minnesota State with 4-1 records. The fifth straight win by USF improved their mark to 7-3 on the season. The Cougars defeated WSU for a fourth straight time to tie the all-time series at 10-10. 

In addition, the Cougars, who improved to 5-1 at home, registered its sixth win by a double-digit margin and its second straight of 20 points or more. USF held a second straight NSIC opponent to 54 points or fewer. 

USF's performance had Head Coach Travis Traphagen appreciating the effort and focus of his team. 

"I thought we had a good balance on offense and defense," said Traphagen, who now has 258 career wins. "With 24 assists and 13 turnovers, we shared the ball well. We are starting to see the emergence of some of our young players," he said.

"To do this (win by 20 points) against a good team showed me that we are starting to jell. Today, once we settled in we were able to do some really good things. We had good shots. When you combine this effort with last night, it was a really good weekend," he said.  

For the third straight game, Fannin, a freshman from Watertown, S.D., scored at least 22 points. Against WSU, she had 22 points by hitting 8-of-15 field goals as she set a career-best with six triples in 10 attempts. She now has nine consecutive games in double-digits scoring and has scored 20 or more points six times in her career. In the past two games, she has knocked down 10 three-pointers in 20 attempts. 

Senior forward Krystal Carlson had 19 points and eight rebounds with four assists and two steals in 27:25 on the floor. Carlson, who now has 18 games in her career with double-digit points, made 9-of-14 field goals while grabbing four of her eight boards off the offensive glass. 

JeMae Nichols set her career-high in points with 13 one night after she had a career-best with 10 rebounds against Upper Iowa on Friday. Against the Warriors, Nichols hit 6-of-10 field goals, hauled down six rebounds and dished four assists with a steal in giving USF a 44-to-10 edge in bench points. 

The Cougars also had a solid effort from junior guard Dallie Hoskinson, who had a career-best eight assists to go with eight rebounds and four points with a steal.  

The Cougars, which led by 23 points in the fourth quarter (74-51, 1:36), controlled the game from start to finish. USF led 19-15 after a quarter and 35-27 at halftime. With a 17-14 edge in the third quarter, USF built a 52-41 advantage and then outscored the Warriors, 22-13 in the fourth quarter to take away a second straight 20-point win. 

Against Winona State, USF hit 32-of-63 field goals for 50.8 percent, including 8-of-19 from three-point range for a season-high 42.1 percent. USF's eight triples was tied (Wayne State, 12/4/21) for their second-best total this season (10 vs Fort Hays State, Nov. 13, 2021).  

While USF's ability to knock down shots proved important so was its dominance on the boards. For the fourth straight game, USF outrebounded its opponent with a 39-to-26 margin over Winona State. USF also had 24 assists as nine players had dimes. The Cougars had just 13 turnovers and forced 16 by the Warriors. For the seventh time this season, USF had double-digits in steals (10). 
A couple of other keys to the win was the advantages USF had in points off turnovers – 20-to-11 – and points in the paint – 38-to-30. 

WSU, which had 21 points from Emily Kieck, hit 20-of-49 field goals for 40.8 percent and was 5-of-25 from three-point range for 20 percent. They made 9-of-13 foul shots. 

Scoring Summary – 
Both teams came out firing in the first quarter when the teams exchanged leads five times. The Cougars hit 8-of-14 field goals for 57.1 percent and made 42.9 percent from three on 3-of-7 shooting. WSU was 7-of-13 for 53.8 percent from the field but just 1-of-4 from three-point distance. 

WSU took the early lead after Kieck's three with 5:14 to play gave the visitors a 9-5 lead. However, USF responded with a 10-2 run and led, 15-11, after Danielle Schaub, who finished with five points, three rebounds and three steals, converted from three-point range. With a basket from Nichols with one second to play, USF took the 19-15 lead. 

In the second quarter, USF had a 16-12 edge for a 35-27 lead after hitting 8-of-20 field goals for 40 percent. Despite the lower shooting percentage, USF's defense played a key role as they held WSU to 33.3 percent on 4-of-12 shooting from the field. 

When Hoskinson and Carlson converted lay-ups, USF took a 29-21 lead with 4:38 to play. Then, USF extended the margin to 33-24 when freshman guard Olivia Gamoke had a fast-break lay-up. A three-point shot by Hieck cut the margin to six (33-27, 1:01) but Carlson answered as the Cougars led by eight at the break. 

In the third quarter, USF hit 7-of-16 field goals for 43.8 percent and added a pair of triples in four attempts. WSU hit 4-of-11 from the field and 2-of-6 from three-point range but were unable to cut the deficit. In fact, USF added to its lead. USF had a 5-0 edge in second-chance points and had an 11-3 margin in bench points to push the lead to 11 at the break at 52-41.
 
Early in the quarter, Fannin's triple gave USF a 38-27 lead and after WSU cut the margin to seven (41-34, 7:48, 3^rd Q), two baskets by both Nichols, including "and 1", and Carlson pushed the advantage 50-34 with 5:43 to play. WSU closed the gap with a 7-2 run but USF still had a double-digit margin.  

In the final quarter, USF put the game away with a blistering shooting effort of 69.2 percent from the field on 9-of-13. USF also hit 3-of-4 from three-point range. As for the Warriors, they hit just 5-of-13 field goals and missed all six of its three-pointers.  

The Cougars pushed the lead to 16 at 63-47 when Carlson scored inside off an assist from Hoskinson. USF's lead grew to 20 points (69-49, 4:17, 4^th Q) when Fannin knocked down her sixth three-pointer of the game. Eventually, USF led, 74-51 (1:36, 4^th Q), when Liz Olson scored in the paint on a turnaround jumper.