DICKINSON — The Dickinson State Blue Hawks were 2-for-23 from behind the arc in their 78-64 loss to Valley City State on Friday, 0-for-16 in the first half alone.
Heading into their final home game of the regular season, on Saturday, Feb. 14 against the Mayville State Comets, the Blue Hawks had to change their gameplan drastically if they wanted to end their six-game losing streak.
That’s exactly what they did, and it also helped that Dickinson State was knocking shots down from 3-point range. The Blue Hawks focused more on attacking the rim and playing aggressive, and they came away with a 72-52 win on senior night.
“Obviously you want to win all your home games, but you especially want to win on senior night. We have four awesome seniors. Some have been with us for two years, some have been with us for three years and you want to send them out the right way,” DSU head coach Eric Nelson said. “It’s a little emotional with some of those girls, but I think the younger girls played their tails off because they wanted to win for our four seniors, which is always a fun thing to see as a coach.”
The Dickinson State Blue Hawks women’s basketball team honored its senior class at halftime of the men’s basketball game against Mayville State on Friday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
Dickinson State controlled play for the majority of the contest, and did not trail for all 32 minutes. However, there were points in the game where the Comets narrowed the deficit. In the second quarter, Mayville State went on a 7-0 scoring run to make it a three-point game at 30-27.
But the Blue Hawks responded with a deep triple from junior guard Dylan Stedille and DSU headed into the locker room with an eight-point advantage, 40-32.
DSU began the second half on the right foot with three buckets to take a 14-point advantage. Two of those field goals came inside the keyhole, where the Blue Hawks earned 28 of their points.
1/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
2/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
3/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
4/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
5/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
6/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
7/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
8/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
9/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
10/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
11/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
12/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
13/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
14/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
15/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
16/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
17/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
18/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
19/19: The Dickinson State Blue Hawks defeated the Mayville State Comets 72-52 in their final home game of the 2025-26 season on Saturday, Feb. 14 at Scott Gymnasium.
Jacob Cheris / The Dickinson Press
Junior forward J’ell Garfield was a noticeable presence at the post, especially in the second half. The Belle Fourche, S.D., native led the Blue Hawks with 18 points and was 8-for-10 from the field. Garfield is more of a playmaker than a shooter, leading the team with 47 assists.
“My favorite stat is that I lead us in assists. I think we had 17-18 assists tonight, so we played as a team really well,” Garfield said. “Today I felt like they were just more focused on letting us shoot threes, so I was just trying to get downhill better and they didn’t pick me up.”
Nelson says that Garfield is “almost too unselfish at times.” But on Saturday, she only registered a pair of helpers and was one of four players to get into double figures.
“We told her when you find ways to get inside the paint from that four-five foot area, she’s really good. And so we just told her to be more aggressive, and she did a great job tonight,” Nelson said. “She’s a good player, but we just needed her to take more shots sometimes, and she did that tonight.”
The Blue Hawks (7-17, 5-15) will have their final set of games of the regular season on Friday, Feb. 20-21 against Dakota State and Bellevue on the road.
Jacob Cheris covers a variety of high school and college sports. A graduate of Penn State University’s class of 2023, with a degree in broadcast journalism, he covered Penn State Men’s Hockey for three years. Jacob also covers Big Ten Hockey for College Hockey News.