SIOUX CITY, Iowa — The University of Jamestown trailed by five points midway through the third quarter but they managed to fight back and retake the lead and they never trailed again getting an 83-79 win over Morningside University on Friday, Feb. 10, at the Allee Gymnasium.
“It’s a huge win,” Jimmies head coach Thad Sankey said. “We came into this week, the entire week, all we talked about and looked at was tonight. We knew this was the one we needed to get and then once we got it now we can start talking about Briar Cliff and our matchup. We just wanted to focus on tonight’s game and put all of our efforts into that and we were able to do that.”
The first quarter was tight with the largest lead being multiple three-point leads both ways. Midway through the second quarter, the Mustangs’ (15-10, 10-9) Chloe Lofstrom hit a layup to give her team the 28-23 lead, which was the largest lead for either team at that point. The Jimmies (20-5, 15-4) managed to fight back over the remainder of the second quarter and took their first lead since 11-8 when Sarah Lenz splashed a three to go up 37-35 heading into the half.
The Jimmies trailed by five with 4:43 to go in the third quarter but the Jimmies responded with a run to take a 56-55 lead on a Kia Tower three with 1:23 to go in the third quarter. Tower was able to stretch the lead out to 60-56 at the line late in the third quarter.
The Jimmies were able to stretch the lead out to five points on an Audrey Rodakowski free throw, giving them their largest lead of the game to that point. After the Jimmies’ Hannah DeMars hit a layup to push the lead out to 71-66 with 3:35 to go in the game, the Mustangs had a golden opportunity to get back into the game as the Jimmies were called for back-to-back offensive fouls. However, a missed layup and a turnover quickly gave the Jimmies the momentum back. The Jimmies responded at the free-throw line as Tower hit both to push the lead out to 75-67 with 1:38 to go in the game.
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“I think we took a deep breath and locked in defensively to be able to get that,” Sankey said. “Those are challenges. I tried to take a timeout right before that, Hannah’s second one, and I couldn’t get my timeout in time. So first of all those are great plays by Morningside’s defenders but second of all there is some real toughness to overcoming that.”
The Jimmies' 20 wins is the first time they’ve won 20 or more games since the 2017-18 season.
The Jimmies are back in action at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11, when they face Briar Cliff.
UJ 83, MU 79
UJ: 18 19 23 23–83
MU: 21 14 23 21–79
Points leaders:
UJ: Kia Tower 21, Hannah DeMars 21, Sarah Lenz 12
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MU: McKenna Sims 17, Alexis Spier 16, Lilly Vollertsen 14
Assists leaders:
UJ: Tower 4, DeMars 4, Audrey Rodakowski 1, Jailyn Martinson 1, Megan Oswald 1
MU: Sophia Peppers 8, Sims 4, Spier 2, Olivia Larsen 2, Chloe Lofstrom 2, Chaise Pfanstiel 2, Vollersten 1, Aspen Jansa 1
Leading rebounders:
UJ: DeMars 10, Tower 7, Kate Busek 6
MU: Lofstrom 6, Peppers 5, Spier 4
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