MW WOMENS BASKETBALL: Fergus Falls tops Lady Jays

FERGUS FALLS — Twenty-four points from Brittany Hulstein were not enough for the Minnesota West Lady Jays to overcome 24 turnovers in a 64-59 loss to the Minnesota State Community and Technical College-Fergus Falls Spartans in a women’s Southern Conference basketball game Wednesday.

“The key to the game was turnovers,” Minnesota West coach Mike Fury said. “We turned the ball over too many times throughout the whole game and they took advantage of those turnovers more times than not.

“You can’t turn the ball over like that, especially on the road. And you can’t give up that many possessions in a game. That hurt us a lot.”

The Lady Jays took a two point lead into the second half, but a slow start out of the locker room allowed the Spartans to take control of the game from there on out.

“We came out really slow in the second half and fell behind by as many as eight at time,” Fury said. “We got within two points multiple times, but we could never tie it up or take a lead.”

Minnesota West tied it at 48 with 6 minutes left, but the Fergus Falls made key free throws down the stretch to hold off the Lady Jays.

“I hope we can learn from this heading forward,” Fury said. “Hopefully we can get something going here in the near future and get on a role.”

Aside from her game-high 24 points, Hulstein brought down eight rebounds and had three assists in the game. Leading MW in rebounds with 16 was Katey Granstra, who also picked up eight points for the Lady Jays.

Tiffany Gehl was second on the team in scoring with 12 points, while Lindsey Drooger added eight points and eight rebounds. Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Jays were Katherine Kazemba with four points and Mara Eichenberger, who had two points.

Minnesota West made five 3-pointers on the night, while picking up 20 points from the free throw line. The Lady Jays also outrebounded the Spartans by a 52-38 margin with 38 of those rebounds coming on the defensive boards.

The Spartans had four players in double-figures in the game, including Alyssa Blair (17 points), Maria Johnson (15), Rhoda Christenson (12) and Morgan Kapphahn (11). Fergus Falls hit 23 2-pointers in the game, but just two 3-pointers and 12 free throws.

Minnesota West (9-5, 0-1) heads to Lacrosse Saturday to take on Western Technical College in the first game of a women’s/men’s double-header. The Lady Jays then come home to host Ridgewater Wednesday in Worthington.

MW 27 32 — 59

FF 25 39 — 64

Tags: minnesota west sports, sports, womens, basketball