SPEARFISH -- The Black Hills State women's basketball team climbed into a three-way tie for first place in the Dakota Athletic Conference by winning 72-65 over Minot State on Saturday.

BHSU, Minot State, and Dakota State now share the top spot in the DAC with 5-2 records at the halfway point of the conference schedule. Black Hills is 17-4 overall, and Minot is 14-7.

"It was a tough battle between two teams that were really focused. Both teams played at a very high level tonight," Black Hills coach Mark Nore said.

"Minot is a really good, hard-nosed team. They have a great coach (Sheila Green-Gerding), and they executed extremely well," Nore added.

Minot State led 30-26 with 5 minutes left in the first half, but Black Hills stormed back as Courtney Johnson, Alexis Krull, and Brittany Fuhrman each tossed in 3-point shots to lift the Yellow Jackets into a 35-32 lead.

Minot countered with a bucket, but Black Hills then scored the final nine points of the half -- seven coming on free throws -- to go up 44-34 at the break.

Both teams connected on better than 50 percent of their field goal attempts in the opening stanza.

Black Hills State struggled offensively much of the second half and scored just 11 points in the first 12 minutes of the period, which allowed Minot to slice the Jackets' lead to just five points, 55-50.

Johnson, a 6-2 freshman, then nailed her second 3-pointer of the game to help turn back the Minot State rally.

"Courtney can hit the outside shot. That basket was big for us," Nore said.

Krull connected on a 3-ball with 4:13 on the clock to give the Jackets a 66-55 edge and Black Hills hit some crucial free throws down the stretch to wrap up the win.

Black Hills' veteran post players, Snjezana Dojcinovic and Lacey Haughian, both turned in big games. Dojcinovic led the Jackets in scoring with 22 points, and Haughian contributed 18 points and 11 rebounds.

"We needed those two to play like they did tonight," Nore said.

Krull came off the bench to score nine points and hand out five assists, which prompted Nore to comment, "Alexis came up big for us."

Kendra Mayer, Minot State's all-DAC guard, paced the Beavers in scoring with 18 points despite intense defensive pressure by the Lady Jackets.

"We defended Mayer pretty well, but she still got her points. She's a great player," Nore said.

Post player Lashay Bagsby scored 15 points for the Beavers even though she had to leave the game for several minutes after picking up her fourth foul with 10:07 to play.

"It really helped to have Bagsby take a seat on the bench for awhile," Nore said.

Black Hills State shot just 30 percent from the field in the second half and Minot outshot the Jackets 46 percent to 41 percent for the game.

But the Yellow Jackets sank 20-of-25 free throw attempts to just 11-of-14 for Minot. Jackets also outrebounded the Beavers 36-to-31 including a 13-8 edge in offensive rebounds.

Saturday's win gave Black Hills State a weekend sweep over rival DAC teams, Dickinson State and Minot, but next week, the Jackets will have to do it all over again. BHSU travels to Minot on Friday and then Dickinson on Saturday for two more important league games.

"At this stage of the season, every game is a big game," Nore said.