HAVRE, Mont. - Lindsay Peterson poured in 16 points and Samantha Oase had her third straight double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds to lead Dickinson State (3-0, 0-0 NSAA) over Montana State-Northern (1-1, 0-0 Frontier), 69-64.
The Blue Hawks first basket didn't come until over three minutes into the game as they fell into a quick 5-0 hole. Oase made it 5-2 with a lay-up and scored the next five DSU points to make it 9-7 MSUN with 5:18 left in the quarter. Kayden Steele scored the next four Blue Hawk points tying the score at 11-11 before a Peterson free throw gave DSU their first lead, 12-11, at the end of the quarter.
Peterson scored on Dickinson State's first possession of the second quarter to make it 14-11, but the Skylights responded with a 13-0 run to make it 24-14 Northern. Tayte Kohn ended the run with the Blue Hawks first three-point field goal of the night and DSU clawed back to within six on a last second lay-up by Tinley Pierson. The teams headed to the break with Northern leading 32-26.
In the third quarter, Dickinson State came out firing, shooting an impressive 10-15 from the field including 3-4 from deep to erase the halftime deficit and take a 50-49 lead into the last 10 minutes. Steele had six of her 12 points in the quarter and Danielle Wallace added four, including the go-ahead basket with 46 seconds left in the quarter.
A Sunshine Vicente three started the fourth quarter for the Blue Hawks putting them up 53-49. After MSUN came within one, at 53-52, Dickinson State responded with a 9-0 run to push their lead back to 10, 6-52. Northern had another run in them, getting all the way back to 68-64 on a pair of free throws with 20 seconds left, but Peterson connected on one of two free throws on the other end and MSUN couldn't get another shot to fall for the final score.
Coach Eric Nelson talked about the slow start post game "We had a really slow start offensively where I thought we got good looks but just couldn't connect. We came out and played a great second half with our defense leading the way again. It's really tough to win on the road and our team has been tough and resilient. Great team win".
WHATS NEXT
Dickinson State will put their undefeated record to the test as they continue their Montana swing as they take on Montana Tech (11/4) and Montana Western (11/5) this weekend.
