DWU women's basketball bows out of GPAC tournament after overtime loss to Dordt
Feb. 25—SIOUX CENTER, Iowa. — A last-second shot was no good for Dakota Wesleyan women's basketball, as the Tigers fell to No. 4-ranked Dordt in overtime, 75-74, in the Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament semifinals.
It was DWU's second chance to win the game at the buzzer, as the Tigers held the ball for the final shot at the end of regulation but failed to get a shot off before the horn sounded, sending the game to overtime deadlocked at 65.
The Defenders, the No. 1 seed in the GPAC tournament, outscored the fourth-seeded Tigers 10-9 in the overtime period. Rylee Rosenquist had five points in overtime and brought the game to within one during the final minute, converting on an and-1 opportunity. Matti Reiner was the only other Tiger to score in overtime, picking up four points.
DWU, which received votes in the final NAIA coaches poll of the season, held the lead at halftime and remained in front for much of the third quarter, going up by as many as seven points. But a 12-0 run from Dordt that ended the third quarter and extended into the fourth gave the Defenders their first lead of the second half.
The Tigers battled back from down by as many as five points in the fourth quarter and held a 64-58 lead with 2:37 remaining. From there, Dordt ended regulation on a 7-1 run, with five of those points coming at the free-throw line to force the extra period.
Reiner and Rosenquist were two of the four Tigers to reach double figures with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Morgan Edelman led the Tigers with 16 points, going 6-for-8 from the field and 2-for-3 from 3-point range but fouled out with 2:07 to go in the fourth quarter. Jada Campbell, who scored eight of her 12 points in the first quarter, also fouled out with 1:03 remaining in the fourth.
For Dordt, Karly Gustafson posted 16 points and nine rebounds, while Bailey Beckman and Janie Schoonhoven both had 10 points. All eight players to see action scored for Dordt. Gustafson and Schoonhoven both fouled out in overtime.
DWU shot 48.3% (29 of 60) from the floor and went 6-for-14 (42.9%) from 3-point range, while holding Dordt — the nation's No. 3 team in 3-point percentage and No. 5 team in field-goal percentage coming into the game — to 42.9% (30 of 70) from the field and 5-for-16 (31.3%) from behind the arc. The Defenders outrebounded DWU 40-34 and had 19 second-chance points to DWU's two. The Defenders also had 36 points in the paint, while DWU had 22, and they got 25 bench points compared to 13 from the Tigers.
It was the second time in three games this season that DWU and Dordt have gone to overtime, though the Defenders won all three contests on the year.
Dordt (28-2) advances to the GPAC tournament championship game, where it will host Briar Cliff, while DWU (22-8) waits to see if it gets an at-large bid to the NAIA national tournament, with the field announced on March 2.
