The Dordt Defender women's basketball scored an 87-77 win at home on Saturday, January 14 in GPAC play against Briar Cliff. The Defenders led almost start to finish against a team that had won seven games in a row in the GPAC dating back to late November.
A
Karly Gustafson basket put Dordt up for good at 3-2 and the lead grew to 27-16 with six straight point by Dordt. A
Bailey Beckman basket right before the first quarter horn gave the Defenders their biggest lead at 30-18.
A Briar Cliff 5-0 run midway through the second quarter got the visitors to within 38-32 but a Gustafson three-point play stopped the threat and Dordt was able to match the Chargers basket for basket the rest of the half and the hosts had a 47-38 halftime lead.
Dordt scored seven of the first eight points of the second half to get up 54-39 with 6:33 left in the period. The Chargers again had a run in them and Peyton Wingert scored a pair of free throws with 2:53 left in the third to get the difference to 59-53.
Bailey Beckman's jumper followed by a
Janie Schoonhoven basket and
Macy Sievers layup extended the lead back to 65-53 and Dordt was up 68-59 when the quarter ended on another Beckman basket.
Briar Cliff got no closer than eight points the rest of the game and the contest was more or less decided when the teams went from the 6:09 mark to the 3:42 without a basket and it was finally Schoonhoven who ended the drought off an assist from Sievers and the Defenders went on to win 87-77.
THE NUMBERS
- Dordt converted 31-64 field goals but were limited to just 4-18 three-point shooting while making 21-28 free throws.
- Briar Cliff was 26-57 from the field and 5-15 from the arc with 20-29 free throw success.
- Karly Gustafson scored 29 points with nine rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.
- Briar Cliff's Konnor Sudmann had 22 points and seven rebounds with five assists and Kennedy Benne scored 18.
- Dordt had a 39-31 rebounding edge and forced 12 turnovers while committing 11.
- Dordt is now 17-1 overall and 11-1 in the league. Briar Cliff is 13-5 and 9-3 in the GPAC.
- Dordt will face the College of Saint Mary on Wednesday night in Omaha, Nebraska.
