Sagan Osborne | Dickinson State Sports Information Director
FOREST CITY, IOWA – Dickinson State got 17 points on 6-14 shooting from Lindsay Peterson and forced 23 turnovers to earn a blowout victory, 87-44, over Waldorf University on Saturday afternoon. The win completes the rare NSAA weekend road sweep for the Blue Hawks as they continue to chase for a top-four seed in the conference.
For the second time this season, the Blue Hawks dominated Waldorf on the defensive end and used efficient scoring to cruise to an easy victory. A season-high 14 players found the scoring column for Dickinson State as all 15 Blue Hawks got into the game.
Peterson got DSU going early, scoring six quick points as DSU raced out to a 10-3 lead to start the game. A small Waldorf run got the Warriors back to within three, 14-11, but the Blue Hawks responded with a quick 7-0 run to push their lead back to nine, 20-11, with 1:21 left in the first quarter.
Peterson again got the scoring started for Dickinson State in the second quarter, and Samantha Oase scored six points in the first four minutes of the second quarter, as the Blue Hawks extended their lead to 34-16 less than halfway through the quarter. At the 6:24 mark, however, DSU hit a dry spell. The Blue Hawks didn't score again until a Jenna Jacobson jumper with 1:40 left in the half, but the defense held strong, holding WU to just two points over that same stretch. A McKenzie Johnson basket with 49 seconds left put the Blue Hawks up 40-23 as they headed to the locker room with a 17-point lead at the break.
Johnson and Peterson connected on four straight three pointers midway through the third quarter to help balloon the DSU lead to 55-28 with 5:19 to go in the quarter and really put the game out of reach. The fourth quarter saw the Blue Hawk bench really get involved as they shot 10-16 from the field and were led by six points each from Sunshine Vicente and Tayte Kohn.
"It was a great team win today," said head coach Eric Nelson. "We got contributions from everyone. We really shot the ball well which was nice to see. We needed to win both games on the road and we accomplished that goal. It was a great weekend for our team."
Kayden Steele chipped in 15 points and 6 rebounds off the bench for DSU, while Oase added 11 points and 8 rebounds. Dickinson State shot 48 percent from the field as a team, including 50 percent (8-16) from long range. Impressively, the Blue Hawks had 18 steals and turned 23 Warrior turnovers into 25 points. The Blue Hawks took tremendous care of the basketball, turning it over just 13 times, including just three in the second half.
WHATS NEXT
The Blue Hawks will return home to host conference powerhouses Dakota State and Bellevue on February 10-11 in Scott Gym in games that will likely have a large impact on where the Blue Hawks ultimately finish in the North Star Athletic Association standings.
