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Women level Cougars
 Media Credit: Christine Johnson/Editor SCSU´s Kristine DeGroot tries to put up a shot while in a sea of University of Minnesota-Morris players Saturday night.
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The SCSU women’s basketball team showed that their explosive bench play was no fluke against the University of Minnesota, Morris during the home opener at Halenbeck Hall Saturday night. It was a flashback from a week ago when the Huskies crushed the Cougars 105-49 while using their bench to do most of the damage. It happened again.
This time the SCSU first year players put on a show for the home crowd in the 97-33 victory. Molly Jensen played a solid game in her debut as starting point guard with 10 points, three steals, three rebounds and three assists.
With starting guard Jessica Abrahams out with an ankle injury, starting point guard Nicole Persby moved to the number three forward position while Jensen took over at point guard.
“(Persby) has helped especially with the little things like telling me where to go and where’s the smart pass and it’s really nice to have her there,” Jensen said.
First-year player Lynnea Salscheider followed up her 22-point performance last week and led the Huskies again this week with 15 points and six rebounds, while shooting seven of nine from the field in her second start.
“It’s still early but I’m happy with starting and scoring 15 points a game, but if my team needs me to come off the bench and score five or six points a game that’s fine with me too. We’ll see what happens when we start getting some better competition too,” Salscheider said.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Salscheider’s game is that at 5’10”, she has been playing in the post as opposed to her natural position at small forward.
“It came as a surprise. I was recruited to play the three spot, but with Jenny Peterson not playing (injured) I moved to the post. It’s going pretty well. It’s tough to play down low because your playing against big strong girls so I’m trying to get stronger,” Salscheider said.
Although Salscheider gives up size to her opponents, she has taken some tips on how to use her quickness as an advantage from SCSU’s all-star post Tina Schreiner who is only 5’8”.
“It’s easier to get up and down the court on the fast breaks and also you can take the bigger players outside where they usually don’t want to go,” Salscheider said.
First-year guard Katie Huschle had a solid performance off the bench chipping in 12 points, three steals and a game high eight rebounds.
Like Salscheider, junior Andrea Bennet also had to make the switch from small forward to the post. Bennet had an excellent performance, scoring 14 points and grabbing four rebounds, while shooting five of eight from the field. Junior Jonelle Streed put on a flawless shooting display going five for five from the field and adding 10 points.
Shooting guard Andrea Shogren chipped in 10 points and four assists.
Although Persby was a forward, she showed her natural point guard ability dishing out a game high eight assists while adding eight points.
Schreiner, who is usually SCSU’s number one scoring option, sacrificed her shots, to get the new players some experience. She had only six points but made her presence felt on defense with a game high seven steals.
The Huskies improved to 2-1 on the season.
“We’re doing so well right now and it’s only the third game of the season. The coach said that we were freshman the first two weeks and now we are part of the team so we have to step it up,” Jensen said.
The Huskies will open their North Central Conference season on Friday against the University of South Dakota at Halenbeck Hall at 6 p.m.
Bobby Hart can be reached at: [email protected]
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