It’s a long season, and the Dixie State University women’s basketball team is trying to ride out the storm.
After a 70-67 win against Point Loma Nazarene University Jan. 25, the team looked poised to make a late-season run, but those chances dropped as the Red Storm lost two home games last week.
Dominican University of California
Outscored and out-hustled by Dominican University of California Saturday, the Red Storm women dropped another game at home.
Tied at halftime, the Storm hung with the Penguins until a four-minute, 11-0 run in the second half that pulled Dominican ahead in the contest. Once ahead, Dominican never looked back and gave DSU a 64-47 loss.
DSU was out-rebounded for the first time this season as Dominican gathered nearly 20 more rebounds than the Red Storm.
“We just had a lack of energy all around,” head coach Catherria Turner said. “In this conference, anybody can beat anybody, and we didn’t come prepared today.”
DSU has now lost four out of its last five games and is looking for answers.
Freshman center Jessica Anderson played more than twice her average minutes to try and add some energy to the Storm. She garnered six points, five rebounds and three blocks in a career-high 17 minutes for DSU.
Sarah Nelson, the 6-foot-4-inch junior center for the Penguins, was Anderson’s main assignment.
“She was very effective with her screens,” Nelson said. “She is strong, boxes out and [plays] really hard.”
All of which was absent as a whole for the Red Storm on Saturday night.
“She earned it in practice,” Turner said of Anderson’s extended playing time in the post.
Junior guard Kaylah Miller played all 40 minutes for the Storm and is looking forward to having a full week of practice coming up to heal and get better as a team.
“My body feels a little down,” said Miller, a junior communication major from San Diego. “It will be nice to have a week of practice to heal up and work on some defense as a team.”
After shooting just 21 percent as a team, and scoring only 17 points in the second half, Miller also noted the team needs to work on its shot this week in practice.
Academy of Art University
The Academy of Art University Urban Knights came into the Burns Arena Thursday on top of the Pacific West Conference standings at 11-1, and Dixie State gave them all they could handle.
Stellar offensive performances by senior guard Haley Holmstead and Miller were not enough to overcome the balanced attack of the Urban Knights. Holmstead led all scorers with 27 points with an impressive 65 shooting percentage, and Miller added 21 points.
Leading after halftime, the Red Storm also won the rebounding battle and shot a better shooting percentage than the Urban Knights. However, Dixie lost the lead in part due to 30 turnovers in the game caused by the Urban Knights’ defense in an eventual loss with the score of 98-85.
Dixie State played 10 players in the game, including freshman forward Caroline Lantor and Anderson.
The Red Storm lead the conference in rebounds per game and pulled down their average of 51 rebounds off the glass in Thursday’s contest.
Thursday’s game had 10 lead changes. DSU led by six in the second half before a 14-2 run by the Urban Knights with 10 minutes to go depleted the Red Storms’ lead. DSU found itself trying to battle back into the game.
The Academy of Art had five players scoring in double figures and will stay atop the women standings in PacWest play.
The Red Storm hope to get back on track in their next game, as they play Turner’s former team, Holy Names University, Saturday at 5 p.m. in the Burns Arena.
