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Dordt pulls away from DWU women, moves on to GPAC championship game

the daily republic, mitchell, s.d.
·4 min read

Mar. 2—SIOUX CENTER, Iowa. — The Dakota Wesleyan women's basketball team gave No. 2-ranked Dordt all it could handle with a ticket to the championship game on the line.

However, the Defenders were able to defend their home court in the end.

Spurred by a late fourth-quarter run, top-seeded Dordt held on to a 69-59 victory over the fifth-seeded Tigers in the Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament semifinals on Saturday afternoon. The win also completes a series sweep of DWU, having previously taken the Jan. 17 contest at home and the Feb. 21 matchup at the Corn Palace.

The opening stages of the game saw the Defenders race out to an 11-point lead on Karly Gustafson's layup past the halfway point of the first quarter. Gustafson finished with 12 points in the first 10 minutes, ultimately finishing with 16 for the game, adding seven rebounds, a steal, and a block.

Trailing by nine points at the end of the first, DWU chipped away at the early deficit, as Rylee Rosenquist picked up a pair of quick layups on a 9-2 scoring run with 4:38 remaining in the first half. Morgan Edelman brought the lead down to two on a triple off the assist from Rosenquist.

Out of the break, Edelman took control in the third quarter, as her 3-pointer a minute in tied the game at 35. Emma Yost's jump shot put the Tigers ahead by three at the end of the quarter.

In the fourth quarter, both teams traded the lead with Edelman maintaining the advantage hitting a 3-pointer with 7:25 remaining in the game. She finished with a game-best 18 points, going 4-of-7 from behind the arc. Shalayne Nagel also drained a corner triple off a steal from Mya Wilson, as DWU scored 20 points off 17 Dordt turnovers.

Following Nagel's 3-pointer with 4:28 left in the game, Dordt went on a late 11-0 scoring run to retake the lead for good. Eliana Kuperus scored five of her nine points off the bench in that stretch, and Macy Sievers' free throw with under 90 seconds remaining gave the Defenders a double-digit lead.

Sievers scored 14 points, also tallying eight rebounds and six assists. Janie Schoonhoven finished with 13 points, picking up a pair of blocks, and Dordt also had nine points, four rebounds, and a pair of steals from Bailey Beckman.

DWU's Mya Wilson collected 11 points on 3-of-4 shooting, and Nagel finished with 10. Rosenquist grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, while also tallying four assists and five points.

DWU will now have to wait and see if it gets an at-large bid into the NAIA national tournament, finishing with a 20-10 overall record. As of Feb. 20, DWU ranked top-50 nationally in RPI and strength of schedule metrics as calculated by the NAIA.

Dordt (28-2) and second-seeded Concordia will meet in the GPAC championship game on Tuesday, March 5, in Sioux Center. By virtue of the Defenders winning the regular-season standings, both teams will claim the GPAC's automatic bids into the national tournament.

Dordt 69, Dakota Wesleyan women 59

Dakota Wesleyan (20-10): Morgan Edelman 7-17 0-0 18 Mya Wilson 3-4 3-4 11 Emma Yost 1-6 1-2 3 Rylee Rosenquist 2-12 1-2 5 Shalayne Nagel 4-8 0-0 10 Grace Fryda 0-0 0-0 0 Taliyah Hayes 0-2 0-0 0 Maleighya Estes 2-4 0-0 5 Anna Campbell 0-1 1-2 1 Lacey Sprakel 3-5 0-0 6 Totals 22-59 6-10 59.

Dordt (28-2): Macy Sievers 3-9 6-7 14 Bailey Beckman 3-14 3-4 9 Karly Gustafson 5-10 6-6 16 Faith Van Holland 1-2 0-0 3 Janie Schoonhoven 4-4 5-5 13 Willow Bleeker 0-1 0-0 0 Macey Nielson 1-2 0-0 3 Eliana Kuperus 4-6 1-1 9 Olivia Harazin 0-0 0-0 0 Gracie Schoonhoven 0-0 0-0 0 Taylor Drent 1-2 0-0 2 McKenzie Goodwin 0-0 0-0 0 Totals 22-50 21-23 69.

DWU 11 28 51 59

Dordt 20 33 48 69

3-pointers: DWU 9-20 (Edelman 4-7, Wilson 2-3, Yost, 0-1, Rosenquist 0-2, Nagel 2-4, Hayes 0-1, Estes 1-2), DRT 4-13 (Sievers 2-6, Beckman 0-2, Van Holland 1-2, Bleeker 0-1, Nielson 1-2). Rebounds-offensive: DWU 27-7 (Rosenquist 9, Edelman 6, Nagel 4), DRT 39-8 (Sievers 8, Gustafson 7, Kuperus 7). Total fouls: DWU 20, DRT 14. Fouled out: None. Assists: DWU 13 (Yost 4, Rosenquist 4), DRT 12 (Sievers 6). Turnovers: DWU 11, DRT 17. Blocks: DWU 4 (Yost 2, Nagel, Estes), DRT 4 (Schoonhoven 2, Sievers, Gustafson). Steals: DWU 8 (Wilson 2, Yost 2), DRT 8 (Beckman 2, Van Holland 2).