The No.1 Dordt University women's basketball team pulled away in the fourth quarter to defeat Concordia (Neb.) 80-66 in a Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) quarterfinal match-up played tonight at the De Witt Gym.
The Defenders, the top-seed in the 8-team postseason tournament, improve to 27-2 and will host No.18 Hastings (Neb.) on Saturday, March 1 in a GPAC semifinal. Hastings, the No.4 seed, defeated No.5 seed Northwestern 81-70 in a GPAC quarterfinal played tonight on the Broncos home court.
Macy Sievers collected a game-high 20 points along with nine rebounds and nine assists, finishing just shy of a triple-double.
Janie Van Donge contributed 15 points and
Gracie Schoonhoven added 14 points, four rebounds and a pair of assists. Both
Ellie Lems and
Willow Bleeker scored 10 points each, giving the Defenders five players in double figures. Lems also pulled down a career-best 11 rebounds to record the first double-double of her career.
Concordia had two players score in double figures, led by Megan Belt with 17 points, who made 5-of-7 three-pointers. Raelyn Kelty contributed 10 points while both Abby Krieser and Kristin Vieselmeyer added nine points each.
How It Happened:
- the Defenders fell behind early as Concordia raced out to a couple of five-point leads, 9-4 and 11-6
- Dordt was able to trim the Bulldogs lead to one, 17-16, by the end of the quarter as Sievers and Schoonhoven scored on a couple of lay-ups
- the Defenders run continued into the second quarter as they scored the first 12 points to go ahead, 28-17, following a three-pointer by Bleeker at the 5:50 mark
- Dordt held Concordia scoreless for over five minutes
- back-to-back three-pointers by Kelty rallied Concordia as the Bulldogs trailed by just one, 34-33, at the half
- with the game tied at both 38 and 40 early in the third quarter, the Defenders went ahead for good with an 8-1 run after a steal and lay-up by Bleeker
- Dordt led by eight (58-50) at the end of the third quarter and used an 16-9 run to open up its largest lead, 74-59, with 3:09 left
By the Numbers:
- Dordt held the advantage in overall shooting percentage, 46% - 40%
- the Defenders also held the edge in rebounding (39-29) and at the free throw line, making 21-of-29 compared to 12-of-15 by Concordia
- the Bulldogs lone advantage in the stats line was in three-point shooting, making 10 in 24 attempts (42%); Dordt went 5-for-17 (29%) from the arc
- Concordia ends the season with a 14-15 overall record.
Defender Notes:
- Sievers has scored in double figures in a team-high 26 games this season
- Sievers has scored 20-plus points in four straight games
- Van Donge netted double figures in her 25th game this season
- Schoonhoven reached double figures in her 13th game
- Bleeker and Lems scored in double figures for the ninth and sixth time, respectively
- Sievers moved into 12th place in career scoring (1,191points), passing Carla Geylense (1996-2000)
- the junior guard moved up to third in career steals (256), passing Kate DuMez (2006-10)
- this was the third win of the season against Concordia
- this will be the fourth consecutive season the Defenders have reached the GPAC semifinals
