The Seattle University women’s basketball team shook off the effects of the previous night’s loss, taking control in the second half and outscoring South Dakota 14-4 over the final five minutes of the game to earn a 62-53 victory Saturday evening at the DakotaDome.
Breanna Salley (East Bethel, Minn.) scored Seattle University’s first seven points of the game on the way to a game-high 21 points, plus she pulled down seven rebounds, dished out four assists, and blocked two shots. Junior Mercedes Alexander (Eugene, Ore.) notched her fourth straight double-double with 16 points and 18 rebounds, while Chelsie Morrison (Portland, Ore.) contributed 12 points, three rebounds, three assists, and a blocked shot to the winning effort.
With Seattle University down 31-30 early in the second half, Alexander started a 16-5 Redhawk run with a three-pointer to put SeattleU up by ten (48-38) with 8:29 remaining in the second half. The Coyotes scored 11 unanswered points over the next three and a half minutes to retake the lead, 49-48, but Cassidy Murillo (Yakima, Wash.) stopped the run with a three-pointer and back-to-back layups by Salley and Morrison late in the second half gave SeattleU the lead for good.
After shooting just 26.5 percent from the field in the first half, Seattle University finally found the range during the weekend road trip, hitting 15-of-22 field goal attempts in the second half in outscoring South Dakota after halftime, 40-28. Seattle University pulled down twice as many rebounds as the Coyotes, 48-24, allowing South Dakota to grab only three offensive rebounds for two second chance points in the game.
South Dakota (16-9) was led by Ashley Wiemann and Jasmine Mosley, who scored 17 points each. Bridget Yoerger finished with ten points, six rebounds, two assists, three steals, and a blocked shot. The Coyotes shot 37.5 percent from the field, including 3-of-17 from the three-point line.
Seattle University (19-8) will finish the season next weekend at the North Dakota Tournament in Grand Forks, N.D., hosted by the University of North Dakota and also including South Dakota and Houston Baptist. The SeattleU games on March 7 and 8 will be broadcast live on GoSeattleU.com with Gary Hill, Jr., providing the play-by-play.