by Sagan Osborne
Dickinson, N.D. – Dickinson State erased a late eight-point deficit to take down Montana Tech in their 2024-2025 season opener, 80-76, in Scott Gym on Thursday night. The Blue Hawks got a game high 23 points on 8-11 shooting from Kayden Steele who buried six threes on nine attempts in the contest. Katherine Fox added 22 points on 6-10 shooting to give two Blue Hawks over 20 points. Samantha Oase put together a great all-around game, scoring 14 points, dishing 8 assists, and collecting five rebounds. The 8 assists are a career high for Oase, beating her previous high of five from last season (also against Montana Tech).
“I was really proud of our teams effort tonight,” said head coach Eric Nelson. “We got down 8 points in the 4th quarter and didn’t panic and dug in defensively. We have a lot to clean up but it was a great team win! We don’t get to enjoy it long as we have a tough Montana Western team tomorrow.”
Dickinson State trailed 72-64 with less than five minutes left in the game after an 11-2 Montana Tech run, but less than two minutes came off the clock as DSU got a pair of threes from Steele and a basket from Oase, on a sweet feed from Fox, to tie the game at 72-72. The Orediggers briefly regained the lead with 2:08 to play, but four free throws from Fox and Tinley Pierson put DSU in front by two.
Montana Tech connected on a pair of free throws of their own with under a minute to play to tie the score at 76-76, but, after a turnover by the Blue Hawks, DSU got a huge stop, and Fox was fouled on a drive with 10 seconds to play. She calmly sank both free throws forcing MT to take a timeout to advance the ball for their final possession.
The Orediggers got off a decent look from three in the final seconds, but the potential game winner rattled out and Anhelica Shanrock corralled the rebound and Pierson knocked down two more free throws with less than a second left to seal the win.
Despite getting 15 points from Steele in the opening ten minutes, Dickinson State trailed 21-20 after the first quarter as both teams scored at a high rate. DSU was able to keep that pace in the second quarter, again scoring 20 points, but they were able to hold Montana Tech to just 15 in the frame and headed to the locker room with a 40-36 advantage.
The third quarter was a mirror opposite of the second, with Tech regaining the momentum and taking a two-point lead heading into the final quarter setting up the fireworks.
Dickinson State shot 50 percent (26-52) from the field in the win and connected at a blazing 46 percent clip from deep (13-28). The Blue Hawks also went a perfect 15-15 from the free throw line in the win.
