Bemidji State women's basketball: Efficient shooting leads Winona State past Beavers
Led by a pair of 20-point efforts from Kelsey Homewood and Jenny Steffen, the Winona State University Warriors extended its winning streak to a season-long eight games with a 82-46 win over Bemidji State Friday at McCown Gymnasium.
The Warriors were a display of efficiency hitting 26-of-61 (.426) field goal attempts, 16-of-33 (.485) from beyond the arc and posted 20 assist on 26 baskets.
Bemidji State got a career-high 14 points out of freshman guard Samantha Baldwin while Sydney Epema netted her team leading 15th double-digit performance of the season with a 14 point effort. Taylor Davis grabbed a team-high five rebounds while Colleen McKay dished out a team-high two assists.
The Beavers opened up the scoring with a lay up by Baldwin just 16-seconds into the game but from that point on it was all Winona State.
The Warriors held the Beavers to a season low 18 points in the first half as WSU went into the halftime break with a 42-18 lead.
WSU shot 46.7 percent (14-30) from the field during the first 20 minutes and hit an astounding 57.9 percent (11-19) from beyond the three point arc helping the Warriors extend their lead to 24, by the time the halftime horn sounded.
The Warriors came out of the break picking up right where they left off netting 30 of the first 39 points of the half extending its lead to as large as 45 points (72-27) before the 10-minute mark of the second half. BSU outscored the Warriors 19-10 in the final 10 minutes but it was to little to late as BSU fell, 82-46.
BSU ended the game shooting 39.2 percent (20-51) from the field, 25 percent (5-20) from three-point range and 11.1 percent (1-9) from the free-throw line while were out rebounded by 14 in the game (45-31).
The Beavers 46 point effort is the lowest of the season and the lowest by a BSU team since Nov. 17, 2007 when Western State University held the Beavers to 46 points.
The Beavers saw the Warriors chip into their lead in the all-time series with the win as BSU holds a 38-26 lead in the series, but are currently on a three-game losing streak to WSU.
With the loss the Beavers fall to 0-12 in away games this season, which is the first time a BSU squad has not won a game on the road in a season in the programs history.
Bemidji State (3-22; 1-17 NSIC) will be back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 25 when the Beavers host Minnesota-Duluth (14-11; 11-7 NSIC) from the BSU Gymnasium at 6 p.m.
