ST. GEORGE – With multiple post players injured this season. scoring in the paint has been difficult at times for the women's team at Dixie State. Saturday night. junior reserve BreAnne Haslam (Mountain Green. UT/Morgan) showed the home crowd great post moves and a soft shooting touch en route to a game-high 21 points in Dixie State's 88-76 victory over visiting Mesa State College Saturday night at Burns Arena.

DSC shined in the painted area with 48 points from close range.

Haslam added eight rebounds and five blocked shots in the SLCC-transfer's best game of the season. Tanya Clark (Beaumont. CA/Beaumont) tallied 18 points and added an additional eight rebounds. Freshman Shanae Vaifanua (Hurricane, UT/Hurricane) chipped in 16 after her career night against Western New Mexico. Jessie Ingraham (Tuscon. AZ/Canyon Del Oro) rounded out the DSC players in double-figures with 11.

A low-scoring first half ended with Dixie leading by only three at intermission. Mesa State opened up with the lead but held the advantage for only a minute. Dixie State used small. frequent runs and converted on fast break opportunities to build an eight point advantage with 4:00 left. Haslam was a sparkling 8-10 from the field in a 17-point first half.

The Mavericks chipped away at the lead with two Courtney McCaig shots late in the half. Mesa State's Jennifer Landers made four shots without a miss to rake up eight points in the first 20 minutes.

Mesa broke from the blocks early in the second half. erasing Dixie's lead and building a five point advantage three minutes in on back-to-back shots by Erin Richardson. Dixie responded with a 7-0 run finalized by two Ingraham free throws.

The Mavericks would cut the led down to three. but that would be as close as they got. Dixie would make eight of ten clutch free throws over the final 10 minutes to hold off any charge from Mesa State.

DSC. after shooting just 32-percent in the first half shot better than 50-percent in the second half to finish the game 34 of 79 (43 percent). Dixie out-rebounded Mesa 54-40 including 20-8 off the offensive glass. Mesa State shot 45 perfect from the field on the game (31-68) and failed to make a shot from 3-point distance.

Dixie State improves to 4-4 on the season winning their third straight. Mesa State drops to 3-3. ending a three-game win streak.

The team will take some time off before playing December 18 in the Great Western Shootout against Central Washington University. The game will be played in Las Vegas. Game time is 11:00am Pacific time. Dixie State will also play the host Western Washington University on December 19.

Both games from Las Vegas will be heard on DixieAthletics.com with the voice of the Dixie State women's team. John Potter.