JAMESTOWN — The No. 19-ranked University of Jamestown has officially locked up a home conference tournament game for the first time since 2018 after a 92-51 win over the College of Saint Mary (Neb.) on Thursday, Feb. 16, at Harold Newman Arena.
Early in the first quarter, the Jimmies’ Audrey Rodakowski hit a layup to tie the game up at four with 7:15 to go in the frame. Over the remainder of the quarter, the Jimmies (21-6, 16-5) outscored the Flames 17-3 to send the game to the second quarter with the Jimmies up 21-7.
The Jimmies kept it going in the second quarter, the Jimmies’ Jailyn Martinson hit a layup to push the lead to 30-11 early in the period.
The Jimmies struggled shooting the ball from distance in the first half as they started the game shooting 0-for-7 before a Sarah Lenz 3-pointer pushed the lead to 42-14 with 3:38 to go in the quarter.
In the first half, the Jimmies forced 13 turnovers and scored 16 points off those turnovers. The Jimmies shot 50% from the field and forced the Flames (5-22, 2-19) to shoot 28% from the field.
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The Jimmies’ 3-point struggles did not continue into the second half as they shot 7-for-9 from distance in the third quarter. In the second and third quarters, the Jimmies’ outscored the Flames 62-28.
In the fourth quarter, the Jimmies reached the 80-point plateau for the sixth time this season and reached 90 points for the second time this season. In total, the Jimmies forced 26 turnovers and scored 31 points off those turnovers.
“It’s great. That’s what we’re hanging our hat on,” Sankey said. “Like I said, we spend a lot of time on our defense, it’s something that our girls have built some pride with and really enjoy.”
In the win, the Jimmies had three players set career highs, Hannah Hagel, Ilycia Guere and Aliyah Robran. Hagel set her career high at 12 points, good for a tie for the second-most points on the team.
“It’s great to play as a team and everybody do super well together and we all feed off each other,” Hagel said.
The Jimmies had 18 different players make an appearance in the win and 13 different players scored.
The win means the Jimmies can finish no lower than third in the GPAC heading into their season finale at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18, against Dordt University (Iowa).
“We love playing here, we love playing here and our girls love it and our families are excited about having a first round,” Sankey said. “It’s one of those things, we haven’t had a first-round GPAC tournament game since we’ve been in the league. This is a new experience for us. We’ve felt these games. We’ve seen what it takes to win against our conference teams and it’s going to be a battle and for us, it’s the same as Dordt on Saturday, we gotta be locked in.”
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CSM 51, UJ 92
CSM: 7 14 14 16–51
UJ: 21 31 31 9–92
Points leaders:
CSM: Clare Lewandowski 19, Madelyn Turner 15, Bailey White 6
UJ: Kate Cordes 13, Hannah DeMars 12, Hannah Hagel 12, Kia Tower 9
Assists leaders:
CSM: Madelyn Gaughen 2, Allison Schubert 2, Lewandowski 1, Turner 1, Kenzi Hoit 1, Kaylin Garza 1
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UJ: Tower 4, Megan Oswald 4, Ilycia Guere 2, Cordes 1, Kate Busek 1, Jailyn Martinson 1, Audrey Rodakowski 1, Madelyn Schmidt 1, Regan Johnson 1
Leading rebounders:
CSM: Lewandowski 8, White 5, Turner 5, Hoit 5, Garza 2, Erin Carbajal 2
UJ: Oswald 8, Cordes 4, Hagel 4, Tower 3, Busek 3, Martinson 3, DeMars 3, Rodakowski 2, Schmidt 2, Johnson 1, Taya Jeffrey 1, Jaylin Cotton 1
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