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Huskies fight for playoff spot
Women's basketball team win Friday and lose Saturday to stay in the last NCC playoff spot with four games left
 Jessica Abrahams
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After a long weekend of traveling and streaky shooting the SCSU women's basketball team earned a split this weekend.
The Huskies defeated the University of Omaha, Nebraska Mavericks on Friday night 84-74 and lost on Saturday night to the University of Northern Colorado Bears 77-68.
It didn't look good for the Huskies early on Friday night against UNO. SCSU shot only 37.9 percent from the field and the Mavericks went into the locker room with a 42-33 halftime lead.
The Huskies came out gunning in the second half and overcame an 11 point deficit with a 14-3 scoring spurt to tie the game at 59 with 8:52 remaining. The Huskies took the lead for the for good in the second half with 4:51 remaining in the game thanks to a lay up from Jessica Abrahams.
"We were down at the half and we had to fight back. We wanted it bad and we went out and did what we needed to do," Abrahams said.
Tina Schreiner went 10-11 from the charity stripe to become the school's all time free throw leader with 510 in 108 games played. Former Husky Bonnie Hendrickson previously held the record with 507 free throws made. Schreiner and Junior Jessica Abrahams took over the game, each scoring 22 points. Point guard Nicole Persby chipped in 10 points. Jen Mitchell lead the Mavericks with 19 points and teammate Tanya Hammes had 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Although the Huskies started off slow, they made up for it in the second half by shooting 53 percent from the field. Both teams shot the ball fairly well as SCSU shot 46 percent on the night and UNO shot 47 percent. Although the Huskies were out rebounded 42-31, they caused 21 Maverick turnovers.
Saturday night, the Huskies faced, literally, a bigger challenge against the University of Northern Colorado. The Bears feature two the best shot-blocking post players in the NCC in All American Missy Borell and Jill Fadenrecht. The Huskies started the game red hot by shooting 7-11 from three point territory and led at the half 40-39. The Huskies lead 48-43 with 16:51 remaining but the Bears hit back hard with a 10-3 run to give them the lead for good.
SCSU's shooting dropped off the charts in the second half shooting only 2-10 from beyond the arc and 8-34 (23 percent) from the field.
"We played hard, but we just had too many lapses on offense and defense. We played well, but we just didn't get the win," Abrahams said.
The twin towers, Borell and Fadenrecht proved to be too much for the Huskies to overcome. Borell lead the Bears with 17 points and seven blocks, while Fadenrecht had 11 points, 11 rebounds, and four blocks. They held Schreiner to only eight points but she tied a career high in rebounds with 18. "(Borell) is so physical down low but we really didn't get any calls in our favor tonight.," Schreiner said. "We had to kick the ball out a lot because of their size and our guards shot well but we just didn't pull it off."
Abrahams continued her hot shooting with a career high 25 points with five three pointers.
"When I'm open I feel like I have to make shots. On different nights different people are open and it just so happens that lately I've been open and know they're falling for me," Abrahams said. Freshman Katie Huschle came off the bench to also get a career high 17.
The NCC remains close with a first place tie between UND and SDSU (10-4), second place tie between USD and UNC (9-6), and a fourth place tie between the Huskies and Augustana (7-7). Although the Huskies remain in the seventh and final playoff spot, they may need a victory or two this weekend in their final home stand against NDSU Friday night and UND Saturday night, to stay ahead of UNO (6-9). Both games will start at 6 p.m. at Halenbeck Hall.
Bobby Hart can be reached at: [email protected]
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