MITCHELL, S.D. — Dakota Wesleyan women’s basketball heads into tonight having received votes in the top 25 poll for the first time all season. The Tigers on Sunday took care of College of St. Mary at home 63-46 on Sunday – and picked up win number 20 of the season.

Senior point guard Kaylee Kirk played 35 minutes in the game and finished with seven points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals. Perhaps her most valuable minutes on Sunday were spent playing at the wing in the second half and out of her regular point guard position.

Morgan Edelman is a freshman point guard from Menno, South Dakota – where she averaged 21.6 points per game as a senior and surpassed 2,000 points scored as a four-year starter. 

Edelman is the heir apparent at point for DWU once Kirk graduates in the spring, but the freshman has had to adjust to life coming off the bench in college after being a star in high school.

On Sunday, when Edelman notched several of her nine minutes on the court at point guard, the senior Kirk was playing alongside her at the wing. After the game, it led to their head coach Jason Christensen making this interesting analogy.

“I know a lot of times we should just have Morgan on the court by herself, but when Kaylee’s on the court, she talks a lot,” Christensen said. “I don’t like to compare it to hunting dogs, but when you have two hunting dogs and you have an old one and you bring a young one in, and you have them beside each other, and they become a pretty good hunting crew.”

The funny thing was, this writerwas somehow on the exact same mind track as the coach – although he was referring to a bird dog in the pheasant-hunting crazed state of South Dakota, and I, coming from a different neck of the woods, was thinking about veteran black and tan coonhounds training pups how to tree a mountain lion.

Either way, the same principle rings true – and both Kirk and Edelman said they could relate to the analogy.

“I can definitely see it,” Kirk said. “I feel that way, especially as I get older and get to the end of my senior year, I feel like I’m the trainer, and I’m getting my pups ready for when it’s time for them to go into the real world.”

“Actually, that makes sense,” Edelman said. “Because Kaylee being a senior has a lot of experience and a lot of knowledge. She’s been around for a while, and in my first year, she’s just been guiding and helping me.”

However, Kirk summed it up best when asked if she had ever been likened to a K-9 before.

“No!” Kirk said as she started to laugh. “But I’m not surprised that coach did that.”

Kaylee said this season has brought her back in some ways to her freshman year in 2018 when she was the pupil learning alongside point guard Rylie Osthus, who was coming off a junior season of leading her team to a national championship.

“Rylie was a really good mentor, and I felt like throughout her entire senior year … was preparing me because she knew that was my role coming up,” Kirk said. “I felt very prepared, and I felt like she ingrained a lot of (things like) talking to coach during free throws and being vocal. All of that stuff that you don’t really realize that goes into it.”

Edelman said Kaylee has never taken it easy on her in practice, which helped her grow.

“I just remember at the beginning of the season, we would always be on opposite teams, and coach would be like, ‘Kaylee, don’t go easy on her,'” Edelman said. “She would always be up on me, playing really good defense and always pushed me and would help me with the plays if I had a question.”

Kaylee said if she could impart one big thing about being a point guard to Morgan, it would be this.

“Not being afraid to talk to people and get them on the same page,” Kirk said. “I told her, ‘I know it’s weird as a freshman to go up to people and kind of boss them around and tell them where to go, but that’s a point guard.’ That’s what you’ve got to do. You’re not bossy. It’s just your job.”

The Dakota Wesleyan women are in action tonight against No. 13 Northwestern at the Corn Palace. DWU received three votes in the most recent NAIA top 25 Coaches Poll, which was released today.

Tipoff tonight is at 6 p.m. – and pregame coverage right here on KMIT 105.9 will begin at 5:40 p.m. The men will follow at 8 p.m.